Illuminating Heaven: The Lightning Thief
by Unlimited Blade Works
Summary: If you're reading this, then by some miracle or another you have managed to find my journal. Now that you have they will come for you, run, hide, fight if you've got the brains or the balls but you need to keep moving. Find my other journals, they can lead you to safety. Start running and don't stop. Trust me as of now I am your only hope, and for what it's worth, I wish you luck.
1. Chapter 1

**Illuminating Heaven: The Lightning Thief**

**Chapter One: Goddess Of The Heavens **

Authors Note-

Okay just to point this out I am having some serious writers block on just about every story right now, so rather than stress about it I went back to all the ideas that I hadn't got around to yet and chose one to write. Obviously this is that story, I would like to say that I have never actually read the Percy Jackson books, but the stories **Son of the H****untress: The Lightning Thief** by SoulReaperCrewe and **The Demigod ninja of Olympus: book 1** by shadow12 and Shinnagami were that good that I actually decided to go out and buy the books. That being said my local book shop was out and so I had to order them off Amazon, should be here about October second. But I did find some of the chapters on audio tape on the net so I may be able to update faster. Also guys if you're reading this, about **The Demigod Ninja of Olympus: book 1** I think your god modding him a bit much, that's not a personal shot at you, I really do like the story but he does seem a bit overpowered.

Moving on in this I made Naruto's mother his godly parent for two reasons, one so I can give him the black flames of Amaterasu and Two because I like Kushina more than I like Minato. Do not get me wrong I actually like Minato, even if I disagree with some of his choices, but that is neither here nor there right now. Also someone mentioned to me that Amaterasu being Naruto's parent had been done before by Shawis Relzair in his story Naruto: The Immortal Demigod . So full credit to him for using Amaterasu first, also, Shawis, are we going to get another chapter of that any time soon because it is an awesome story. That applies to you three as well SoulReaperCrewe, Shadow12 and Shinnagami.

While I think about it for the first half of this chapter I have people refering to themselves in the Japanese was, e.g. last name before first name, in the second half it is the normal western standard way. This was done to show another difference between the two dimensions, and that I am too lazy to go back and change it.

As usual thank my BETA Zimbolical, on with the show.

**Story Start-**

Amaterasu sat upon her thrown, the room around her gilded with the finest gold's and jewels. The goddess watched from above over mortals and lent them her light to let them live. Overall she was considered to be one of the more kind deities of the multi-verse. Her hair was as black as midnight, her skin pale and creamy, eyes like glittering violets, her body clad in a kimono that was, quite literally, fit for a god.

Carrying the designs of the sun and the sky, trees, the wind, all of her domain was on display. The normally kind goddess looked down at the mortal world and found herself enraged. How dare they, HOW DARE THEY DO THIS TO HER SON! Amaterasu reined her temper in, something that was very fortunate for the mortals that existed below as at her word the heavens could rain fiery destruction down upon them. Her anger was currently directed to a village inside a land named Hi no Kuni, or the land of fire in the English language. More specifically the village of Konohagakure no Sato, the village hidden in the leafs.

What was not know about gods, for most mortals at least, was that they would walk with humanity at times in order to better understand them. Right now the goddess was overlooking her son, one Uzumaki Naruto. You see when a god or goddess walks amongst mortals they do it in one of two ways, the first is to take form on the Earth below, the second is to be deliberately reincarnated into a human and not remember that they are a god, well until they reached age sixteen in human years anyway. After that the memories would come flooding back so that the god or goddess would not forget their purpose in descending to the Earth in the first place.

That being said they still were human for all intents and purposes, they could not use most of their godly power, they simply knew that they were a god and for what reason they were walking among mortals, though their power would be passed on to any children that they had while masquerading as a human. When Amaterasu had last chosen to walk amongst mortals she had chosen to be reincarnated, when she had finally remembered who she really was she had been calling herself Uzumkai Kushina for the last sixteen years. This didn't really affect her personality or actions it was just she finally knew who she really was again, it also explained why her chakra was so different from others and why it would never be seen again in the elemental nations, well at least until she could reincarnate again, in one hundred years.

The ancient rules for gods and goddesses were the same in just about every dimension, but they more or less boiled down to three. One you can not directly interfere in human affairs unless you were currently in a human body or there was a good enough reason for it deemed by the ruling gods. Two if you had a child with a mortal, said child becoming a demigod in the process, you were to leave them, a godly parent could not influence the child as they grew up. It simply caused too many problems in the long run, that rule essentially made it so they had to be raised by their human parent. Though she could view her son due to the rules of this dimension she could not raise him, nor have any real contact with him until he was thirteen. Until her Naruto grew to that age she could visit him, once, but he must not see her, nor could she in anyway shape or form reveal who she was to him when she did go for that visit.

He was currently three months old, and the waiting was killing her. The third rule was simple, you could only cross into other dimensions with the permission of that dimensions ruling gods and goddesses. A rule that those Greek bastards seemed to disregard whenever they pleased, that jerk Zeus still owed her a favour for trespassing, bastard. That being said the Greek gods and goddesses owing her favours were very common, as they hated actually going through procedure and actually telling her of their presence in the nations. In fact off the top of her head the only Greek gods that did not owe her a favour were Hera, Demeter, Athena, Artemis,Hestia, Nemesis, Hephaestus and, surprisingly enough, Hermes. More over Amaterasu was on good terms with those eight, when one considers that Olympus had a grand total of twenty two gods and goddess, over half of them owed her a favour in one way or another and she was on good terms with the ones that didn't.

Amaterasu sighed and went back to watching her son, he was crying in his crib. The Genin watching him didn't seem to care and walked out saying something about his shift being over. Amaterasu saw red, if she was down there she would burn him alive before maiming his replacement for being late, after she took care of her baby of course. She saw an ANBU drop into the room, Amaterasu was not overly worried, she knew that hairdo anywhere, it was Kakashi. One of the only people to actually listen to her husband's last wish, she knew why Jiriaya was not there. If the teacher of the legendary Yondaime Hokage was seen hanging around a random child that just so happened to have blue eyes and blond hair people might start to see what was in front of their faces and realise he was the child of Minato and her.

The angry goddess calmed herself as she watched Kakashi chew out the Genin replacement for being late, fear gripped the goddess's heart when the Genin was late because the store had refused to sell him food when they found out it was for Naruto. Damn them! She could not believe the people both she and Minato had put their faith in had spat on their last wish like this, it was infuriating. The goddess calmed herself again, then smiled, oh now that was perfect. Well if Konoha could not appreciate having a jinchuuriki, her son no less, to protect them then they would simply no longer have him.

It seemed like those damned favours that those morons on Olympus owed her would finally come in handy for something. After all while a god or goddess could not permanently reside in another dimension there was no such rule for a demigod, like say Naruto. She would simply need their permission and considering the amount of favours she was owed she would definitely win by majority vote, if it came down to it. But Amaterasu doubted that it would, the only time things went to a vote was when it was considered to be a danger to the realm and she doubted her son would be considered that much of a threat. Especially when she got Kurama out of him, poor fox did not deserve what had happened to it over the years.

The black haired goddess stood, she would complete her plan as quickly as possible. The longer she left her son down there the more chance someone in that hell hole of a village would do something stupid. Amaterasu swore to herself that if her son died before she could get him to a safe place then the leaf would burn in her holy black flames. She made a mental note to remove her power from the Uchiha clan, that had been a bad move from day one, but even gods had their moments of stupidity. The goddess stopped, her son would no doubt inherit her black flames, the holy flames of heaven.

Her black flames could consume anything but they were immensely difficult to control as the user wanted unless they had some kind of focus for it, such as the Mangekyou Sharingan. She considered her problem for a second before heading to the armoury, in the other world they used celestial bronze to cut down monsters, Amaterasu had a better idea. A focus for her power and a weapon to kill monsters all at the same time, it would be perfect, the real question was what to choose. She had favoured a ninjato when she was still called Uzumaki Kushina but she doubted it would fit her son, he would probably end up more like his father than her, the shorter blade of the ninjato had let her mix her Taijutsu and Kenjutsu but didn't have much range.

Considering that many of the monsters in the other world had a long reach Naruto was going to want range. Amaterasu thought that by the time he was twelve Naruto would most likely be able to wield a full sized katana. The extra reach would do him good, the black haired goddess threw open the doors to her armoury. She was by no means a warmongering goddess but after being reincarnated into the ninja world so many times she did develop and eye for fine steel and an appreciation for it as well, hence why she had the armoury built. But her armoury did not house mere normal swords, no here there were only cursed blades and swords meant for the gods themselves, only the best was allowed in her treasury or her armoury after all.

The black haired goddess walked quickly through her armoury. She was looking for a particular blade, the black blade Shusui. As far as swords went Shusui was a little bit of a problem child, it is one of the twenty one best swords ever created. But it has what could only be described as a temper, the sword was semi-sentient after all and if it didn't have what it considered being a competent wielder it would deliberately make itself harder to use.

That being said it was one of the finest swords inside her armoury, she wondered if her son would inherent an ability like her armoury? It was something she had kept even a human, the ability to materialise a pocket dimension to store things inside, and only the best was ever stored inside her armoury. Amaterasu picked the black blade up slightly reverently and slid it out of the sheath before smiling, yes Shusui would be perfect. The blade was dead black except for the wave pattern in the blade that was a blood red. The guard was in similar to a series of flower petals, hilt wrapped in black silk with a bronze cap on the end of the hilt forming the pommel.

She sheathed the blade, its sheath a lacquered black, with a series of purple circles along it, all split into three equal parts. The goddess hummed to herself as the blade was wreathed in her black flames, making it into the perfect focus for her son. There was another reason that Amaterasu wanted her son's blade to be Shusui as well, celestial bronze, as good a metal as it was, would only cut monsters, not mortals. Shusui as a cursed blade would cut both monsters and mortals. Amaterasu was quite sure that one day Naruto would find a mortal opposing him and ready to kill him. At that time she wanted him to have a blade to fight them with. Shusui would be perfect for that role.

Her flames died and the goddess smiled to herself, Shusui was now her son's focus, the kimono clad goddess walked back to her thrown room, still humming. As a goddess it would have been very easy for her to remove the curse from Shusui but she had refrained from doing so. If Shusui had its curse taken away it would just be another sword, an excellent sword to be sure, but a normal sword none the less and as such incapable of cutting down monsters. As such Amaterasu had only altered the curse, Shusui would become difficult to use if anyone who it deemed was insufficient used it. But it would kill a person that it found unworthy of using it, that part of the curse had been removed, but that was only when it came to her son, if anyone else tried to use Shisui and the blade found them unworthy they would die.

She added another couple of security features to the blade as well, the first was that Naruto could summon Shusui to his side should he need it and two Shusui could never be removed from his person unless Naruto allowed it to be. The blade would also kill any that tried to use it against her son. Amaterasu smiled to herself, not bad work at all. The final security feature and the most important was that if her son's power even went out of control the blade was automatically transport Naruto back to her, it was a one way trip though and could only take Naruto no one else, any others caught in the blast radius would die, burned by the holy black flames of heaven.

The goddess made it back to her thrown and looked at the mirror that showed her son before sighing in relief, he was fine. With the way that the village was treating him, even in his first few months of life, Amaterasu was afraid of what could happen when she was not watching. So far there had only been one assassination attempt on her Sochi, the assassin had been burned in her flames and then consigned to hell for eternity.

Technically by killing the assassin she was interfering in human affairs but the other were willing to let it slide as the man was trying to kill her son, though she was told she could only do things like that if no one else was around to help, i.e. Kakashi was there. Amaterasu smiled as she watched her son sleep and clicked her fingers, a handmaiden walked into the throne room and bowed to her lady before looking in the mirror that housed the vision of the sleeping Naruto and smiled. They knew just how protective their lady was of her child and to be honest the handmaiden's liked him as well, they had nothing against demigods after all. "What do you wish of me my lady?" The handmaiden asked, her eyes looking into her mistresses violet orbs, Amaterasu smiled at her handmaiden.

"Call Zeus for me if you would, please tell him it's time to pay up." The black haired goddess declared gleefully, the handmaiden nodded and bowed again before walking out of the room. Yes even though she was a goddess Amaterasu was a goddess who's attitude was almost always the same as her reincarnations were, the most recent of which being Uzumaki Kushina. The goddess sat back on her thrown and looked at her son, now came the real question, did she retrieve her son while looking like Uzumaki Kushina or like the sun goddess Amaterasu? Eventually she settled on taking him back while looking like she did as Uzumaki Kushina, it would be one hell of a prank after all, let it never be said that the goddess Amaterasu did not have a sense of humour.

**XXX**

The remainder of the immortal, proceedings as it were, was relatively quick and to the point. As Amaterasu more or less had Olympus by the balls with the amount of favours she was owed it was settled very, very, quickly. In short her son would be allowed to live in this other dimension by the Olympian gods and goddesses, but they were not responsible for him. They would neither help nor hinder his progress. In addition to that should he start to attract monsters he would be more then welcome at camp half-blood, if he started to attract monsters? It was a damned guarantee that Naruto would eventually start to attract monsters, her blood flowed strongly through him.

Though Naruto would most likely never be the social equal of a child of the big three, due to the fact that Amaterasu was not a god of that dimension, but he would be their equal in strength though. Besides if her son inherited any of her attitudes at all then he would actually prefer it that way, less formality. The black haired goddess was glad it had only taken a month to get to this point, under normal circumstances a month would have been considered a rather long time but they needed every major and minor Olyimpian god for this and as such Amaterasu was forced to wait until the winter solstice to get her issue seen too. Zeus was not about to let Hades into mount Olympus more than once a year no matter who he owed a favour to.

The black haired goddess simmered for a second, her hair changing to a bright red. The kimono being replaced with a maternity dress, a clip materialised in her hand, she secured her hair to the left and smiled as she looked in the mirror, lookout elemental nations Uzumaki Kushina was back! The goddess smiled to herself and opened a portal to the outskirts of Konoha, she wanted to make this big. Amaterasu had already cleared it with the other gods and goddesses, she was allowed to interfere in mortal affairs directly this once as it concerned her son, that and no one in their right mind said no to Amaterasu, especially when her child was involved, it was a quick was to earn a painful death in black flames.

Besides she had promised not to kill anyone unless they tried to kill her first, not that it would work but still. That was about the best promise they were going to get out of Amaterasu, so they took it. The now red headed goddess materialised in front of the gates, a flash of black flames accompanying her. She smiled at the gaping mouths of the two Chunin guarding the gate, Izumo and Koutetsu if she remembered correctly, they were just Genin the last time she saw them, Chunin in just four months, they were moving up in the world. The red head just gave the two a cheery wave and walked into the village without a care.

Izumo looked at his partner, his face a gaunt white. "You just saw that right?"

His spiky haired companion looked at him like he was insane. "Did I just see Uzumaki Kushina materialise in front of the gates and wave at us before walking inside despite the fact she has been dead for four months?" Kotetsu asked, Izumo nodded "oh good you saw it too for a second I thought I was going insane" It was at this point the two realised they had just let a woman into the village that was not only supposedly dead but could also be someone under a Henge.

"We need to tell Hokage-sama about this" Izumo said and the two vanished in a shunshin leafs dropping to the floor. Nearby a clone of 'Kushina' laughed as it dispelled. Knowing the chaos that had already been set in motion.

Amaterasu walked calmly through the streets, ignoring the wide eyes that some of the ninja were giving her. The goddess didn't mind, she had already taken precautions for her son's safety so she could afford to be seen right now. Not to mention the looks of absolute disbelief and shock from the vast majority of the shinobi was a riot, best prank ever. The red head sauntered into a small ramen bar, the only ramen bar she would consider eating at any more, Tuchi always made good ramen after all. "Yo Teuchi" Amaterasu greeted, a foxy grin on her face, accompanied by a wave of her hand. The ramen chef took one look at the red head and promptly dropped the pot he had been carrying.

"K-K-KU-KUSHINA!" Teuchi yelled at the still smiling goddess, who nodded at his proclamation.

"In the flesh" the red head acknowledged.

"How!?" Teuchi asked, Amaterasu held back a laugh. It seemed that she had managed to short circuit the ramen chefs brain.

"Well I am dead so I just thought I'd pop back in and see my son, take him away from here and have some ramen before heading back to the heavenly plain." Amaterasu said seriously to the ramen chef, basically outlining her entire plan to Teuchi, who managed to compose himself enough to begin forming coherent sentences again.

"Okay seriously, how are you here Kushina, I attended your funeral and what do you mean son?" Teuchi asked, tongue almost tripping over itself in eagerness as he tried to convey his utter disbelief at the fact his favourite customer, who was dead no less, was sitting in front of him and had a son. Okay maybe that last one wasn't too difficult to figure out he hadn't seen her in ten months before the Kyuubi attack so that was plenty of time for Kushina to have had a child and considering who her boyfriend was they would have needed to keep it secret. Wait, who her boyfriend was! "Namikaze Minato has an heir!?" Teuchi asked in a strangled voice, Amaterasu laughed, the poor man looked like he was about to have a heart attack.

"Indeed he does, not that my Sochi will be remaining here for any longer. I may not have been able to be there for him over the last four months but I am sick of the way this village treats him." The goddess replied in a cool voice, Teuchi shivered at the frozen hate in that tone, he really pitied the people that had earned her rage, Uzumaki Kushina was not called the red hot blooded habanero for nothing after all. The ramen chef composed himself and opened his mouth to ask another question, right before a pair of ANBU walked into the stand and stood directly behind Kushina.

"You will be coming with us for questioning over the impersonation of a former Konoha kunoichi." The one in the bird mask stated before the bear masked one reached out for her, Amaterasu didn't waste time. The red head kicked off the bar and allowed the bear masked ANBU's arm's to pass over her, her left fist came up and nailed the man in his pride. Amaterasu smirked, sure taking them out like a god would have been easier, but this was so much more satisfying.

The sun goddess flipped herself off the floor and into the small space above the now crouching ANBU her legs came down gripping him tightly around the head before twisting and forcing his head into the floor. The bird masked ANBU looked slightly shell shocked by how quickly his subordinate had been taken down. Amaterasu smiled, chain's bursting forth from her back and immobilising the ANBU, a sphere of highly condensed and spinning chakra in her right hand. The sphere came forward and slammed into the ANBU's sternum sending him flying out into the street. Amaterasu let the rasengan dissolve, that was one hell of a handy trick Minato had made right there. Nowhere near her own flames or Kurama's Imari, but for a human, it was something else.

The red head smiled at Teuchi who was strangely looking at her with an impassive gaze that one would find out of place on a civilian and then it clicked for Amaterasu. Most people seemed to forget that Teuchi was a former Jonin, an A rank Jonin that specialised in Genjutsu at that. The ramen chef gave her a wry look, "I get the feeling this is going to get worse before it gets better" Teuchi stated. Before making a shooing gesture with his hands "and I don't need a war zone made out of my shop" he added dryly. "Go on Kushina I make the assumption that you have things you want to do, might want to get to them?"

Amaterasu looked at the ramen chef for a second "not concerned I'm a traitor?" she asked, Teuchi snorted in disbelief.

"You? Uzumaki Kushina a traitor?, now there's a laugh. You can hide a lot of things from me Kushina. Your chakra signature is not one of them, no I believe you are here to help your son and if anyone knows who he is then they are going to go after him to get to you, might want to get going." Teuchi added with a grin, Amaterasu nodded, but before she could run off was stopped by another call from Tuchi. "Kushina, for what it's worth, I'm glad you're okay." The goddess turned and smiled at the ramen chef before running off, but not before blessing Teuchi with good fortune. Many years later this blessing would lead to Teuchi's ramen being declared the best food inside the elemental nations and the man would eventually become one of the five richest men in the world, but that is a story for another time.

Amaterasu jumped to the roof tops and ran, noting the ANBU and Jonin closing in on either side of her the goddess jumped into the sky and flashed through hand seals. **"K****aton:Gōka Mekkyaku" **She declared before fire roared from her mouth, S rank Katon Jutsu Goka Mekkyaku, the giant fire storm engulfed the surrounding buildings and sent them up in flames, Amaterasu made sure that the store that had refused to sell food to that Genin that was looking after her Sochi got roasted. But she was not overly cruel and as such did not kill anyone, just set the shops alight, she could see children in some of the stores, she was beyond angry at the way Konoha treated her child but she was not about to kill children over it. Then again if her child had been killed she would have wiped this entire village off the map in an instant. But they hadn't done something that stupid, yet, and if her plan succeeded, they never would have the chance to.

Amaterasu smiled at the fact that she had managed to whittle down her pursuers to next to nothing, the vast majority of the ANBU staying to put out the fires. By the time they realised that her entire performance was nothing more than a giant distraction it would already be too late. The red head continued her run at breakneck speeds before landing in the centre of Konoha and flashing through hand seals, Amaterasu reared back and faced the sky **"Katon: Gōka Messhitsu"** a pillar of flame rose over the village alerting all ANBU and Jonin to her presence, she saw them as they dropped into the village square. When they reached one hundred Amaterasu couldn't help but smile, idiots. A robed figure came to the front of the assembly, Amaterasu's gaze softened slightly, she always had liked Hiruzen.

The old man looked at the woman in front of him and felt his mouth go dry. It was most definitely Uzumaki Kushina. He could feel her chakra perfectly, exactly as unique as it was the first time he had met the woman he considered being a surrogate grandchild. But how was that possible, he had presided over Minato and her funerals, so how was Uzumaki Kushina standing in front of him? "Not that it isn't nice to see you again Kushina-chan but how are you still alive?" Amaterasu smiled at the old Hokage, well perhaps old was a little hypocritical coming from her, but he was old for a human. 

"Now, now, Hiruzen-kun" Amaterasu scolded lightly, getting a slightly surprised look from the old man, she only did that before one of her grand pranks went off without a hitch. "Wouldn't a better question be what am I doing here?" Amaterasu teased, the old Sarutobi was looking paler by the second, something wasn't right here and he couldn't put his finger on it.

"Okay then Kushina-chan I'll bite, what are you doing here?" The old Hokage asked, slightly worried about the answer he could receive. Amaterasu just waved her finger at him as if she was scolding a naughty child.

"Oh that's simple Jiji, I intend to take my Sochi away and raise him somewhere safe" Amaterasu stated, causing the old Sarutobi's eyes to widen. "Oh by the way, you guys are really bad at spotting a distraction." Amaterasu added brightly, before going up in a puff of smoke revealing her to be nothing but a shadow clone.

The old Hokage took a deep breath in, he had one of two options, option one have his ANBU try to head Kushina off and keep Naruto in the village. Something that as Hokage he should do, if the Kyuubi jinchuuriki was no longer held by Konoha then they would be severely weakened. However as a man and more importantly as a parent himself he should not stop Kushina from taking her child, regardless of what the village wanted.

The old Sarutobi was no fool, he knew exactly how the village would treat the boy and he made his decision. "Konoha shinobi!" The old Hokage barked, making all of the ninja in the area look at him "proceed with helping restore order and putting out those fires, do not, I repeat, DO NOT, follow Uzumkai Kuhsina." The shinobi nodded and ran off to deal with the fires. The old Hokage looked to the sky. The shinobi council would make him send out hunter ninja after Kushina and Naruto. They wouldn't want to lose their precious 'weapon' after all. But he could at least give her a decent head start, the old Hokage looked to the sun and would swear until the day he died that the goddess Amaterasu was smiling down on him for his choice, he was not wrong.

**XXX**

Amaterasu smiled to herself as she stood in the middle of a bunch of pulverised flesh, which used to be a top ANBU unit, they weren't dead. They just wished they were. Well except Kakashi, he was just knocked out by a quick chop to the back of his neck. The rest however, well they were definitely not in such a good way, Kakashi was the only one who really cared about her baby, hence why he was not treated to the beating of a life time. The goddess of the sun and the heavens moved forward to the crib, it would be the first time she had seen her child face to face in four months, it felt more like four years.

She smiled down at the small child contained within. The baby looked up at her and smiled before giggling and reaching out for her. Something in his subconscious must have recognised her as his mother, the sun goddess reached down and picked him up, resting Naruto's head on her shoulder and humming him a lullaby, the same one as she had when her mortal body was dying. The baby giggled again and clutched her tightly as if he knew she would have to leave him again soon. The sun goddess smiled before disappearing in a gout of black flames back to the heavenly plain, taking her son with her. A small note that made Kakashi an adopted member of the Uzumkai clan all she left behind along with a small thank you written at the bottom, for the remainder of their day's both Kakashi and Hiruzen would enjoy the blessings of the sun goddess, even if they didn't know why.

The red haired goddess appeared back in the heavenly plain, she didn't have long to spend with her child, just three days. That was the amount of time it would take for her to open the path to the other dimension and set up and account for her son, for his monetary expenses. In addition to that she would need to set up a list of instructions for Naruto that she would have the mortals follow, most importantly would be him learning Kenjutsu, if he ever wished to use Shusui correctly he would need that training.

Her form shimmered, hair turning back to black, Naruto who saw this clapped his hands and giggled, the goddess held him tighter. With the understanding that she had of the Olympian god's world she would not be able to raise Naruto there either, but she would have no limitations of visitations so long as he didn't know who she was. He would eventually but it was the same in the other world, she could not tell him until he was thirteen or at camp half-blood before that age. Still her child would have a better life in the other world rather than in the elemental nations, of that she was sure, and so the sun goddess began her preparations.

It did not take the goddess long to complete her work, Kami-sama bless Kage Bunshin, yet another excellent trick created by shinobi. It allowed her to not only spend time with her child but also take care of business, she still remembered the day she had told Minato that Kage Bunshin was the secret to defeating paperwork. The man looked like she had just slapped him, but the really funny part came when she walked outside the office and heard Minato's voice from inside.

_**Flashback**_

_Amaterasu had just walked out of her husband's office, her husband naturally being Namikaze Minato, though legally his name was now Uzumaki Minato. As her human form was the last of the Uzumaki clan her husband had taken her name when they married, as was common for those without clans when they married into them. Amaterasu never planned to tell her husband that she was a goddess, she looked down at her swollen stomach, at the very least her child would know first, then her husband. Then she heard it, the sound of hysteric almost insane laughter coming from within the office, it was Minato's_

_**Inside the office.**_

_Namikaze Minato, now called Uzumaki Minato looked at the many stacks of paper and laughed. Before he smiled viciously, they had always been there, always mocking him as if telling him that he would ne__ver defeat them, the damned forms! Minato's laughter came out harder, turning borderline insane, to the point that the ANBU around him were beginning to worry about their __leader's__ sanity. The laughter died down and Minato gave the paperwork a thousand yard __stare, one that he had __perfected before when facing Iwa Shinobi. "You thought you could break me!" Minato yelled at the stack of paperwork "you thought you could defeat me, make me give up hope!" He accused still looking at the paperwork with fury, then sm__iling sadistically. "But now, NOW! I KNOW YOUR WEAKNESS!" The blond Hokage roared to the heavens. Before making a cross shaped hand seal__. "__FACE THE WRATH OF THE HOKAGE! KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!"_

_**Flashback End**_

Amaterasu laughed that was one of her most cherished memories of her beloved. It didn't hurt that is was also funny as hell. The actual set up of what she need to do for Naruto was rather easy, first she set up an account in the other world filled with money. Enough that she could be sure Naruto would be well cared for, normally that would have been suspicious but she was a god, a little abuse of power here, a few altered memories and paperwork there and it was foolproof. Next came the most challenging part, emotionally at least. She had to find a good orphanage to take Naruto in.

It didn't take her too long to find one in an upper suburb of a place called New York. It was well maintained and all of the matrons were nice people, which did not change the fact that she did not want to give her child up. After that came the vastly more simple part, she placed a compulsion on Naruto, it was an incredibly complex one. But in short it was to do two things. The first was to ensure that her wishes regarding Naruto were followed. The second was to make sure that Naruto was not adopted. Amaterasu felt her heart break when she added that section but she did it anyway, inside the orphanage the sheer smell of humanity would keep monsters from noticing him. But if he was adopted, she shuddered to think of what could happen to the family, what would eventually happen to the family.

The day finally came, Amaterasu changed, her form wreathed in black flames. Becoming a middle aged woman with brown hair in a tight pony tail, a brief case that contained her 'will' and the look of a lawyer about her. The goddess picked up her child and disappeared again, careful to appear away from any humans, the deity of the heavens walked through a few back streets, only one person was dumb enough to try to mug her, he died wreathed in black flames, she was beyond angry at having to do this to her child and the man paid the price for angering her.

The now brown haired goddess arrived at the front gates, and pushed them open. It was a large place, an old building, stone, but also warm and inviting. The goddess looked to the sky, it was noon and she could not put this off any longer. Amaterasu knocked on the front door of the orphanage and waited, it was opened a few seconds later by a young dark haired woman who looked at her and the child she was carrying "how may I help you?" She asked, Amaterasu did her best to smile considering the circumstances.

"I would like to talk to the matron. This child was to come here as according to his mothers will." Amaterasu replied, the young woman nodded and led the goddess inside. She was led into a room containing a desk and a few chairs with a rather elderly lady behind it who was smiling at the goddess of the sun. Who still had Shusui clutched in her left hand with her briefcase and Naruto on her right side.

The elderly lady smiled at the brown haired Amaterasu. "It is nice to meet you my dear you may call me Lyinda, may I ask your name and what business has brought you to my humble establishment today?" Lyinda asked, Amaterasu nodded, taking a seat in a chair directly in front of the elderly lady. The young woman who had escorted her inside closed the door on her way out.

"Thank you for seeing me on such short notice" Amaterasu replied giving the elderly lady a small smile. "My name is Carla Marvell. I am the solicitor of one Kushina Uzumaki, as you can probably tell Naruto is why I am here." Amaterasu lied smoothly nodding to the bundle in her arms.

The elderly woman nodded sadly "so his mother is dead?" Amaterasu nodded in response to the question, his mother might not be dead but the woman named Kushina Uzumaki certainly was. Now only Amaterasu remained, even if she could take her human incarnations form when she wanted.

"Indeed, it was her last will that as both her husband and her were dead that he come here" Amaterasu said smoothly, her voice did not stutter and completely bellied the amount of effort it was taking to keep her composure and not simply erase the woman in front of hers memories and simply raise her child herself, laws be damned!

The old woman reached out and played with Naruto's hands for a second before the child giggled at the action and snuggled further into Amaterasu's body. "Your all alone now you poor dear, don't worry though we will take good care of you" Lyinda said to the still giggling Naruto.

Amaterasu nodded her head in acceptance of that before sighing. "Now before anything else happens his mother did leave several clauses in her will that she wished to be followed if he was allowed to remain in this orphanage." The goddess stated which caused Lyinda's eyebrows to rise.

"Really and what clauses might they be?" She asked, genuinely interested in what the child's deceased mother could have wanted.

"The clauses are straight forward and simple, first when he turns five he is to start learning Kenjutsu" Amaterasu layered her words with compulsion making Lyinda want to do as she was told, it was a compulsion so strong it would take effect on everyone inside the orphanage. "Second when he turns seven he is to be given this sword," Amaterasu placed Shusui on the table before her, Lyinda's eyes still glazed from the compulsion.

Amaterasu took a deep breath."Finally he is to be sent to a boarding school when he turns six, it must be one that has a Kenjutsu dojo nearby as he is to continue his training for as long as possible. If all of Miss Uzumaki's clauses are met the orphanage will get a 500 000 dollar donation from Miss Uzumaki's account, no need to worry about Naruto there will still be more than enough inside to provide for him. In addition Miss Uzumaki knew that these things would be expensive and as such at the time of Naruto doing these things the account will be open to the orphanage so that they can be paid for. Also I will be stopping by once every three months for a progress report on Naruto in accordance with Miss Uzumaki's will." Amaterasu finished and allowed the compulsion to slip, Lyinda's eyes unglazed and she nodded.

"I do believe that will be fine, thank you Miss Marvell. You will just have to sign the paperwork and all will be done" Lyinda said cheerfully, Amaterasu nodded and began filling out forms. The remainder of the work was finished quickly and Amaterasu handed her son over, her heartbreaking at the act before leaving. For a time, later that night when everyone was asleep a gout of black flame appeared in the small room that Naruto was sleeping inside, the goddess now having red hair again approached the crib and smiled at her baby's sleeping face before leaning down and placing a soft kiss on his forehead, it would be the last physical contact that she would have with Naruto for twelve years.

**XXX**

Even growing up Naruto Uzumkai had never considered himself to be normal. He knew he wasn't, he didn't know what started it but over time, since he could remember he always knew he was different. It was nothing concrete, he was an excellent Kenjutsu user, he couldn't call himself a master just yet and in fact despite how good he was he was nowhere near the level of a master. He was also a superior athlete, seemingly excelling at everything physical. No what really tipped him off that he was not normal was the sun, he didn't know how, he didn't know why, but he could feel it something was up there and watching over him and it had something to do with both the heavens and the sun.

The blond stretched, he had just turned twelve recently, he wasn't what one would call short at 157 cm but he hadn't finished growing yet so he wasn't quite sure how tall he would end up. He was also not normal due to the drastic changes in personality he would experience when he was fighting, normally Naruto was quite out going and generally had a laid back unconcerned attitude. When he was using Kenjutsu, or just fighting in general, he became far more reserved and quiet, it was actually kind of scary when one saw just what a major personality change it really was.

Then there was Shusui, the blade that had been left for him by his mother, and the only connection he had to his family. It was a good blade if it wasn't for one thing, it was cursed, Naruto did not know how he knew that, he also knew that Shusui would never harm him, but he knew. Still it was cursed, the funny thing was even though Shusui was cursed and there was every chance that he would die a horribly painful death if he kept it. Naruto could never bring himself to get rid of the blade, every time he tried the knowledge that Shusui would never hurt him appeared in his mind and he didn't go through with it.

Then there were the things he did for 'fun', who the hell learned how to throw knives for fun? Or looked at the heavens, no not the moon or the stars, but that big inky blackness or pure blue sky, he looked at it and thought it was wrong, almost like it was missing something.

His obsession with the colours, red, yellow, black and orange were not normal either. All in all Naruto Uzumaki knew he was not normal, now if only he could figure out what the hell that meant hopefully when he did all would be right with the world. The blond at this point in time could not possibly know that when he did finally find out why he was not normal it would lead to a series of adventures, most of which almost got him killed in a variety of excruciatingly painful or horrifying ways. But at this point in time the blond was in a school bus that was heading to the metropolitan museum of art to look at the Greek and Roman exhibitions.

Naruto was dozing by a window, no one sitting next to him, the blond really didn't mind as much as he enjoyed interacting with people he didn't mind solitude all that much either. He only really had two friends in Yancy academy, as for how he ended up in Yancy well the blond had found that it was the only boarding school with a Kenjutsu dojo nearby. His two friends being Grover Underwood and Percy Jackson, most of the others didn't want anything to do with the blond, not that Naruto cared if they didn't want to know him he wasn't going to force them to.

Mr Brunner was the teacher that had organised the trip so hopefully it wouldn't end up like torture, like most Yancy field trips did. The man had brown hair and a raggedy beard his eyes also appeared to be alight with joy at times. All in all he was a pretty good guy. More than could be said for the accompanying teacher Miss Dodds, a sour old bitch who always seemed to be wearing a leather jacket, Kami only knew why. Naruto chalked that up as another odd thing about him he almost never said god instead referring to deities by the title of Kami, the Japanese term, odd when one considered that he had been raised in New York. The blond heard the bus stop and forced himself to open his eyes, if Naruto had known at that exact moment what was about to happen, he probably would have cursed getting out of bed.

**Illuminating Heaven: The Lightning Thief- Chapter 1 End.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Illuminating Heaven: The Lightning Thief**

**Chapter Two: Fury**

Authors note-

Dear sweet Kami I worked over time to get this out so fast, enjoy!

Also the sword Shusui is from One Piece one of the three swords that Zoro uses. So I paid the series a little homage this chapter.

Thank Zimbolical for the BETA job.

**Story Start-**

Naruto yawned as he stood and walked off the bus. The blond stretched, his arms coming over his head, his body loose. Something he had picked up from practising Kenjutsu for so long, it kept his body always loose, always ready to fight from any angle at any time. Naruto rolled his shoulders in his customary manner as he got up, he had taken careful note of the fact that Nancy Bobofit was throwing what looked like peanut butter and tomato sauce sandwiches at the back of Grover's head.

Bitch was getting pranked like a motherfucker for that. He was one hundred percent sure that Miss Dodds had seen the event and was deliberately ignoring it, stupid woman, there was something off about her too, Naruto could tell. He had toyed with the idea of telling Mr Brunner about Nancy but decided not to, after all unless the man actually saw her there was not much he could do, so Naruto would indulge himself by getting her back in his own special fashion, ah revenge is sweet.

Grover was something of an easy target for Nancy, he was scrawny. Not to say that Naruto himself was not thin but his frame was all wry muscle from working Kenjutsu for so long. Grover also cried when he got frustrated, Naruto was halfway sure that Grover must have been held back considering that he was showing signs of puberty. What with the acne and the fact that he was growing somewhat of a wispy beard, okay maybe beard was a bit of a stretch, it was more like bum fluff.

On top of that he was crippled, Grover more or less could never do much physical activity due to the fact he had some kind of muscular disease that required him to have crutches and leg braces to walk. He walked funny but Naruto didn't let that fool him, he had seen just how fast Grover really was when it was enchilada day at the cafeteria, Usain Bolt eat your heart out. Naruto grimaced when he saw a few left over pieces of sandwich in his friend's curly brown hair, the bitch would pay. The bitch would pay dearly.

Percy couldn't do anything about it either due to the fact that he was on probation. In fact Naruto had heard the headmaster threaten Percy before they left. Now he may have been only twelve but Naruto was still a fairly good judge of character and Percy, despite all his faults, was a good guy. Whatever was going to happen on this field trip, if something happened, would not be Percy's fault, though the blond had little doubt that he would be involved in some way or another.

The blond walked over and stood by his two friends and saw Nancy Bobofit's hand come back, his eyes made a quick whip around the room to make sure that neither Mr Brunner nor Miss Dodds was watching. His hand went into his pocket and withdrew a pencil which he summarily threw at the red headed monster, Naruto knew his mother was a red head, he had a few photos of her and it kind of pissed him off that someone could share a hair colour with his mother and be such a bitch.

It was illogical and even stupid but there it was, it still angered him. Though he was glad he had the Matron Lyinda and the person who kept coming to see how he was doing every three months, Miss Marvell to look after him. The pencil whipped through the air, right next to Nancy's cheek who yelped in pain and dropped the piece of sandwich that she had been about to throw and caused the entirety of the class to look at her. The red head had a slight trail of blood going down her cheek from where his pencil had scratched it on the way past, Naruto couldn't help but smile that had been a good throw.

Order was quickly restored and Nancy went to throw another piece of sandwich, right until she caught sight of Naruto rolling a pencil back and forth in his hand and glaring at her, the piece of sandwich was dropped, Naruto smiled. "Good girl" the blond stated condescendingly, pocketing his pencil, and getting a grin from Percy and Grover that he couldn't help but return.

Mr Brunner lead them through the large echoing halls of the museum his wheelchair humming slightly, Naruto couldn't help but enjoy the Greek and Roman exhibition but he was feeling more drawn to the Japanese section, particularly a painting of the goddess Amaterasu. She was a beautiful black haired deity that apparently ruled over the suns and the heavens, at least according to Japanese mythology.

Mr Brunner continued down the halls passing the Japanese exhibit and Naruto felt a little disappointed that he could no longer see the picture of Amaterasu, the handicapped teacher lead them on, passing marble columns and statues, along with glass cases housing ancient Greek pottery, Naruto couldn't help but love the pottery. It was ORANGE for Kami's sake, with BLACK pictures on it, what wasn't to love about that? It still surprised Naruto that things like the pottery could survive for two, maybe three thousand years. Okay so he knew that the Greek pottery wasn't that old, but he had seen the pottery at the Egyptian part of the exibition, seriously how the hell did pottery of all things last that long?

Mr Brunner gathered the group around a thirteen foot tall stone column with a sphinx on the top. Naruto felt a little confused as to why the Greeks would use a sphinx, weren't those Egyptian? The column was a grave marker. Apparently it was for a girl around twelve to thirteen. Naruto actually found it quite interesting when he started talking about what all the carvings on it meant, everyone around them was talking though and it was really starting to grate on Naruto's nerves. Of course Nancy was doing so the loudest but naturally Miss Dodds didn't do a damned thing, "stupid lazy old bat." Naruto cursed under his breath at the pre-algebra teacher.

Actually that raised a good question, just what the hell was pre-algebra anyway, okay he could understand pre-calculus but pre-algebra? How the hell were you supposed to prepare for algebra? It was simply replacing a number with a letter then asking you to find the number that the letter represented, you couldn't do a preparation course for that, either you were taught algebra or you weren't, there was no such thing as pre-algebra as far as he was concerned.

Whenever Percy or her would tell the people around them to shut up the other teacher/chaperone Miss Dodds would give them both the evil eye. Not that Naruto cared. When Mr Brunner wasn't looking he held up a pencil and mimicked throwing it at Nancy, Miss Dodds eyes widened slightly. The message was clear, he had done that to Nancy and had no problem doing it to her as well and her glare returned twice as vicious, Naruto felt cold, like his blood had turned into ice.

But he glared right back at the decrepit teacher, a snarl beginning to form on his face. Neither Naruto nor anyone else noticed the small amount of purple light gathering in his left hand. When Mr Brunner began speaking again Naruto withdrew from the glaring contest and the light vanished. Miss Dodds had come to Yancy half way through the year when the last maths teacher had a nervous breakdown due to the excessive amounts of mysterious pranks carried out on campus, Naruto denied everything.

There was one time when she had made Percy erase answers out of old maths books until midnight, something Naruto was sure was in violation of some kind of law, Percy had told both Grover and him that he thought that Miss Dodds wasn't even human. Grover's response was what had triggered Naruto looking at the teacher a lot more critically than he would normally, Grover's response being 'You're absolutely right'.

Naruto paid closer attention to Miss Dodds after that, he knew something was off about her, something bad, she was wrong, he could feel it, her existence, it was a mistake, like she was a demon in human skin. A mockery of what should exist, he had been on guard around her ever since. She knew he knew something was wrong and had had it out for him ever since, Naruto just hopped she never got him alone, or he was sure he would find out if his feeling was correct. Naruto was not sure he would live through such a confirmation.

Mr Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral rights. It was actually quite interesting when one considered it. Still Nancy Bobofit kept talking, right next to Miss Dodds like usual and, like usual, she didn't do a damned thing about it, sigh, what kind of moron was she anyway? Finally it seemed like Percy had enough, he spun around to face Nancy "Will you shut up?" the twelve year old black haired boy asked in an exasperated tone. Causing the rest of the class to look straight at him before laughing, Naruto held in a sigh, that probably came out louder than Percy meant it to.

Mr Brunner stopped his story, which Naruto considered to be a mixed blessing. On one hand if Nancy actually shut up now he could listen to the rest in peace, on the other hand Mr Brunner was probably about to make both Percy and Nancy feel like morons for interrupting his lesson. Now Mr Brunner was not the type of teacher to give a person a detention, not the middle aged man was more the type to make you feel like a moron and he made sure that you knew he was disappointed in you for interrupting as well, it probably worked better than a detention really.

With a detention you didn't really think about what you did wrong you just waited for your time to be up before going home, Mr Brunner's method actually made you think about it, if for no other reason than you didn't want to be made to look like an idiot again, it was effective though, Naurto would give the man that. "Mr Jackson did you have a comment?" The older man asked. Naruto knew that tone, it was the beginning of the guilt trip.

Naruto chose now to interrupt, "he was just asking Miss Bobofit to be quiet Mr Brunner. She was talking quite loudly and we had asked her several times before, she is also standing quite close to Miss Dodds. I'm actually quite surprised that Miss Dodds didn't hear her, maybe you should get your ears checked Miss, your age might be catching up to you." Naruto finished easily. He thought that had been one smooth sentence. Turning the problem from Percy's to Nancy's, making it sound like they had tried to solve it peacefully, making them the better party, and insulting Miss Dodds, one of his favourite past times, all at once.

Mr Brunner nodded thoughtfully before turning to Nancy "Thank you for clearing that up Mr Uzumaki" Mr Brunner replied looking at Naruto with a smile before turning to Nancy. "Miss Bobofit did you have a comment?" Mr Bruuner asked again, causing the girl to go as red as her hair, in case anyone was wondering her hair looked like someone had turned the colour of cheetos into a hair dye and applied liberal amounts to Nancy, no way that was natural.

"N-No nothing sir" the girl replied, before glaring at Naruto. Who calmly took out a pencil and started twirling it around his fingers, the girl went pale and backed off.

"Good girl" Naruto said again, it was a condescending tone, as if he was talking to something lower than him. Which to him he was, anyone who acted like that did not deserve the respect that he could give them and as such they were lower than him. He slipped the pencil back into his pocket and turned back to Mr Brunner who looked at Nancy more intently.

"Perhaps you would like to tell us what these carvings mean Miss Bobofit?" The Latin teacher asked, the girl took one look at the carving and flushed, Naruto couldn't help the cruel grin that came over his face. The girl didn't know it he was sure.

"I'm sorry sir I don't know" the girl replied, Mr Brunner nodded before gaining a cheeky smile.

"Then I guess you'll have to pay more attention while you're here then wont you?" The Latin teacher asked, gaining anther flush on the girls face, ah revenge was sweet Naurto mused.

"Mr Jackson how about you do you know what the carving represents?" Mr Brunner asked, Percy took a quick look and smiled, he knew this one.

"That's Kronos eating his kids." The black haired twelve year old stated.

"Yes" Mr Brunner replied, he was not satisfied with such a quick answer it seemed. Naruto looked to Percy who decided to extrapolate on what he had just said.

"Kronos was the king of the god's right?" It was a half question coming from Percy. Mr Brunner seemed to sit up straighter.

"Gods?" he asked slyly.

"Titans" Percy corrected himself, Naruto sighed, if he hadn't Mr Brunner would likely have launched into another lecture about the war between Gods and Titans again, not that Naruto didn't enjoy that lecture but he had heard it so many times already. "Kronos didn't trust his kid so he ate them right?" Another half question, Naruto held in a sigh, he really needed to help get Percy out of the habit of asking those. Mr Brunner nodded, seemingly emboldened Percy continued his voice gaining more strength and conviction as he did so. "But Kronos's wife hid the baby Zeus, replacing him with a rock instead. Then later when Zeus grew up he tricked his dad into barfing up his other kids."

"EWWW" came the voice of the girls behind Percy. Naruto groaned. When would they learn that history, well mythology in this case, was not all sunshine and roses? In fact if you actually looked at Greek mythology it was a collecting of horror after horror, with the hero usually dying from betrayal at the end. Never quite as moving as the saga of the Irish hero Cu Chulainn, but not much was.

Percy ignored the girls behind him and continued. "Then the gods waged war on the titans and the gods won" he finished rather lamely. Naruto almost winced, well that was a ten for picking out the important points, a six for the actual storytelling and a four for finishing delivery. That was just too lame an ending to score higher on his good story scale.

Naruto heard Nancy Bobofit mumble to a friend "like we're going to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications 'please explain why Kronos ate his kids'" He had just been thinking about not pranking her too, what after the public embarrassment and all. Oh well more fun for him.

"And why Mr Uzumaki" Mr Brunner said, Naruto cursed under his breath he must have been zoning out. "To paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question does this matter in real life?"

"Busted" Grover mutter, quite obviously taking a lot of pleasure in the fact that his tormentor was catching flack from at last one of their teachers.

"Shut up!" Nancy hissed back and was about to say more before she saw Naruto casually fiddling with a pencil and shut her mouth. Naruto smiled. Ah it really was true the pen really was mightier than the sword, especially when aimed correctly. Naruto was not overly surprised that Mr Brunner had picked up on what Nancy had said, man had amazing hearing.

Naruto considered it for a second, why would it matter? Well he supposed if they wanted a job in a museum later in life the knowledge could come in handy. Then if they actually went to Greece they would actually know some of the customs and mannerisms, society was built on legends after all. No it really was all of humanities collective hopes and dreams went into building a mythology, it showed you what they loved, what they hated and how they lived. "I suppose if we were to visit Greece the knowledge could come in handy. It would probably explain a few of the customs as well as why people act the way they do. Or if we wanted to work in a museum later in life the knowledge could come in handy when applying." Naruto replied, Mr Brunner nodded.

"A good answer Mr Uzumaki, full credit. Also Mr Jackson to expand on your earlier answer. Zeus fed his father a mixture of mustard and wine to get him to disgorge his other children, who being immortal gods had been growing up unharmed in their father's stomach. The gods defeated their father, sliced him apart with his own scythe and scattered his remains to the deepest pits of Tartarus." Mr Brunner looked over the class for a second "and with that I believe that it is time for lunch, Miss Dodds if you would be so kind as to lead us outside." Mr Brunner asked, getting a nod from the maths teacher as she stalked off, Naruto detached from the group half way out and found himself once again in front of Amaterasu. It was almost like he was being called here for some reason, her face it looked so familiar, he reached out almost in a trance to touch her, a whirring sound came from behind shaking Naruto out of his stupor. The blond looked behind him to see Mr Brunner, "something caught your eye Mr Uzumaki?" He asked playfully.

Naruto nodded before looking back at the painting "it felt like something was calling me here." The blond admitted, Mr Brunner nodded.

"Do you know who this is?" The wheelchair bound man asked, Naruto nodded.

"Amaterasu, Kami, goddess in English, of the sun and the heavens in the shinto religion. In some stories she is married to Tsukuyomi, who she leaves after he disgusts her, causing the rift between day and night, in others Tsukuyomi is a woman and merely a close friend of Amaterasu and it is her brother Susanoo who she has issues with. Though they seemed to have been resolved after Susanoo gifted her with the Kusanagi no Tursurgi." Naruto finished, giving a very much shortened account of the early days of the goddess. Mr Brunner nodded before looking at Naurto.

"You feel a connection to this goddess?" He asked, Naruto nodded, he was born and raised in America but had a Japanese name. His mother had a Japanese name as did his father, even if all three of them did look Caucasian, maybe he felt a link to the goddess because of that, maybe because it might bring him closer to his family. "I see" Mr Brunner mused "at any rate Mr Uzumaki you may want to go and have lunch, you don't have long left." Naruto nodded, before turning away from the image of Amaterasu. He felt sad to leave it, he wanted to look at it more, something inside him wanted to spend more time around the painting, maybe he would come back on a weekend.

"I think I'll do that, but I'll go to the bathroom first." Naruto replied, waving to Mr Brunner as he walked off.

Mr Brunner placed a hand to his beard and stroked it, "that is interesting" he mused almost silently, "that is very interesting."

**XXX**

Naruto sighed, ah that felt better, much better (if you're a guy you'll get that), he zipped up his fly and washed his hands. Naruto looked at his watch, he had about fifteen minutes left for lunch, if he could get outside fast enough, but he didn't really have much of an appetite, the blond decided to spend a few more minutes looking at Amaterasu's painting. He strolled down the hallway's, mostly ignoring the artwork around him, he only had one piece he really wanted to see. Though the blond did find it a little strange that there were no people around, still that just meant he could look at the painting in peace and so he didn't think about it too long.

He found himself strolling back through the Greek and Roman section not a care in the world, unless you counted getting back to the painting of Amaterasu as fast as humanly possible, without running. Naruto heard a strange growling noise and couldn't resist finding out what it was. He poked his head into an alcove, there was Miss Dodds, standing in front of a mural of the Greek gods, it was nice and all but Naruto still found the one of Amaterasu to be more beautiful. She was making a growling noise in her throat, and staring straight at Percy, Naruto felt some kind of weight settle on him, it felt like a rotting corpse was pushing down on top of him. Naruto looked closer at Miss Dodds, something was wrong, something was very wrong and she was at its centre. Naruto hid himself and waited in the shadows, he didn't know what was going on but it was important and if Percy needed help he would be there to give it.

"You've been giving us problems honey" Miss Dodds stated, looking at Percy, Naruto thought that his friend was lucky that looks couldn't kill, because if they could he would be little more than charred ash on the floor right now.

"Yes ma'am" Percy responded, Naruto heaved a small sigh of relief. It seemed he wouldn't be confrontational. That was a good thing Percy would probably get off lighter that way. Still the feeling of wrongness coming from Miss Dodds was unmistakable and only seemed to get worse when Percy's answered. Naruto's breathing sped up, his body slipping into battle mode, it slowed down again and his eyes became fully focused. A strange thing about Naruto's eyes became apparent when he was ready to fight. His eyes gained a single ring around them and changed to a piercing golden. He was ready to fight. His body knew what was about to happen, even if his brain hadn't quite caught up yet.

Miss Dodds tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket, her eyes were far beyond mad. Naruto could only call it evil. His calm demeanour didn't slip in the slightest, he was still ready. "Did you really think you would get away with it?" Miss Dodds asked which caused Naruto's eyes narrowed. There was more to that question than was on the surface he was sure of it. The blond was also sure that that question was not relating to the Tow Sawyer essay that Percy had just grabbed off the net, the book wasn't that bad really the guy just didn't want to read it that's why he grabbed the essay off the net. Well at least that was what Naruto told himself, conveniently forgetting that he had also copied the essay from the net, though he did like to think that his was of superior quality to Percy's.

"I'll try harder ma'am" Percy managed to get out. Naruto could tell that the malevolent feeling was starting to affect him as well.

"We are not fools, Percy Jackson!" Miss Dodds hissed out at the black haired boy. Naruto was sure of it now, this went far, far further than either he or Percy imagined. The fight was about to begin. Now he needed a weapon. "It was only a matter of time before we found out" Miss Dodds declared. Naruto mused on that sentence, found out about what exactly. "Confess and you shall suffer less pain" Miss Dodds demanded, Naruto even in his battle enhanced calm state had to fight back laughter at that deceleration, whatever Miss Dodds was he was sure mercy was not in her dictionary, he needed a weapon.

Naruto could see Percy had no idea what the hell Miss Dodds was talking about, but he could also see that whatever the woman really was either didn't care or couldn't tell. He suspected it was a mix of both, she didn't care was probably the more prevalent of the two though. "Well" the creature demanded, Naruto's eyes scanned the room for a weapon, he was coming up with nothing. He knew he should have taken those hand to hand classes.

"Ma'am" Percy started, Naruto tensed it was about to start he would just have to wing it, his mind was still calm and reserved. "I don't kno-"

"Your time is up!" Miss Dodds declared, her body bulging grotesquely. Wings ripped free of her back, bat like and webbed, blood coating them as if they had just been ripped out from within her body. Her fingers stretched, lengthening into talons, face elongated, mouth filling with fangs. A forked tongue could be seen inside, skin grey like a corpse, her nose was a pair of slits and her eyes were as blood red as Naruto imagined the fires of hell to be.

She wasn't human, she was a hag with bat wings and fangs, talons ready to rip the living apart, the part of Naruto's brain that was still his sarcastic fun loving self remarked that it was oddly appropriate considering her personality. The calm battle ready part overrode it, the monster charged forward ready to slice Percy to ribbons, Naruto was already moving but he knew he wouldn't make it in time. The monster was simply too close, that was when things got even stranger. Mr Brunner, who Naruto knew had been out near the front of the building less than a second ago was in the door way of the room, holding, of all things, a pen in his hand.

"WHAT HO, PERCY!" Mr Brunner yelled and tossed the pen through the air, Percy jumped away, at the same time as the hag came forward and felt talons slash through the air next to his ear, Naruto was still running towards the hag. Weapon damn it, he needed a weapon! Shusui came into his mind, blade as black as midnight, wave pattern as red as blood. He needed a weapon, he needed Shisui. Purple light roared around his left hand, a sheathed Shusui dropping into it, Naruto felt the weight of the sword like an old companion and stopped running.

He jumped back next to Percy, who had a bewildered look on his face. Naruto saw why, the pen had become a blade, straight edged like a European broad sword, edges on both sides, no. Naruto corrected himself, it was not European but Greek, the kind of sword that would be used by a hoplite, it was thirty two inches long or eighty two point two eight centimetres from point to pommel. An ordinary guard, nothing too ostentatious, but there was something about it, it was an excellent blade, not on the same level as Naruto's own Shusui, but it was close. To be honest if one was to try and recreate this sword and succeeded even to only copy it to five percent of it's true capacity it would still be more than most swords could dream of being.

Miss Dodds turned and snarled at the two, Naruto let out a breath and took a drawing position. "Percy" he said calmly, surprising the other boy. "Be ready, we end this in a single blow" Naruto declared causing Percy to look at him like he was crazy. Naruto didn't turn away from his opponent. "When she comes just do what feel natural" Naruto assured him, Percy still looked unsure, Naruto didn't have any more time to assure his friend. His hand took the Iai strike position on the katana's hilt.

The hag snarled "you really think you can win!?" she hissed.

Naruto's calm face didn't change in the slightest "of course" he answered.

"DIE HONEY!"

The fury charged, Percy did what came naturally, he swung the sword. The blade hit the hags arm, sheering through it like it was water, the furies left wing followed suit and Percy dived out of the way. Naruto landed lightly behind the fury, neither moved.

"Ittoryu Iai: Shishi Sonson"(literal meaning, One Sword Style, draw and re-sheath technique: Lions Song) The attack spilt the fury cleanly from right shoulder to left hip, Naruto looked at Shusui as the hag exploded into yellow powder, vaporised on the spot. Leaving nothing behind but a dying screech, the smell of sulphur and what Naruto could only call a chill of evil in the air.

"Thanks mom" Naruto whispered looking at Shusui, who seemed to get heavier "thank you too of course Shusui" Naruto added, the sword seemed to be appeased and got lighter. 'Cursed sword' Naruto told himself before he turned back to Percy who was holding a ball point pen in his hand, Miss Dodds was gone like she had never existed to begin with. In fact if it wasn't for Shusui still being clutched in his hand Naruto was unsure if he would even have believed it happened. He sheathed the blade, and his eyes changed back from gold to blue, the blond smiled at Percy.

"That did just happen right?" Percy asked, sounding shaken, Naruto nodded.

"If you just saw our so called 'pre-algebra' teacher turn into a monster and attack you then yes that just happened. The real question is what the hell is going on because if I didn't see that I would not believe it, hell if it wasn't for the fact that Shusui is still in my hand now I don't think I would believe it." Naruto finished, they both looked towards the entrance and Mr Brunner wasn't there. What the hell was going on? If it wasn't for the fact that his battle persona was so damned calm Naruto suspected that he would be having a panic attack about now. Naruto noticed that Percy was trembling, he pointed to the way out. "Not going to get any answers if we stay here." The blond pointed out.

Percy took a deep breath and nodded, Naruto looked down at Shusui, what the hell was he going to do about it, he shrugged, he could play it off as a souvenir that he brought at the gift shop. The last one if any one asked as well. The two arrived outside, it was raining, Grover was over by the fountain a museum map over his head holding off some of the rain, Nancy Bobofit was soaked for some reason. Naruto couldn't help but smile, good, Nancy saw them and walked over looking at Percy. "I hope Miss Kur(i have no idea how to spell her name) kicked your ass" she spat, Percy went to open his mouth, Naruto kicked him in the shin. Before pulling out a pencil, Nancy backed up.

"Would you like a matching mark?" Naruto asked, Nancy shook her head, the blond put his mouth to her ear "run" and she did, right back to her friends and went as far as not so much as looking in either Naruto or Percy's direction again.

Percy looked at Naruto with a deadpan expression on his face. "Naruto you're my friend" he started, ah here comes the "but" Naruto thought smiling to himself. "But sometimes you scare me and why did you kick my shin?" Percy asked.

Naruto smiled at his friend "Percy something is going on right now and we have no idea what it is. According to Nancy she thinks our teachers name is Miss Kur, so unless you want people to think we are both crazy for now we need to act like nothing is wrong. We both know something happened," Naruto gestured to Shusui who was sheathed at his side. "Because you know as well as I do that Shusui here is supposed to be on the mantle in my room, that proves something happened now we just have to find out who is pulling the strings and why, until then we lie low and act natural okay?" Naruto asked to which Percy nodded.

"Okay" Percy agreed "but we need to find out what is going on and fast." Naruto nodded, this was not something he ever expected to happen, but now it was he was getting to the bottom of it, one way or the other.

They walked over to Mr Brunner "This is your pen sir" Percy said handing the writing utensil back, which confirmed it for Naruto, Brunner was involved somehow.

"Ah thank you Mr Jackson, from now on please bring your own writing equipment" Mr Brunner replied, taking the pen back. "Mr Uzumaki" he said turning to Naruto "where did you get that sword?"

Naruto smiled "at the gift shop" he lied smoothly. He was sure that if Brunner didn't already know it was a lie he would have brought it. "It's related to the Amateasu exhibition." Naruto added smiling, while unknowingly telling a portion of the truth. "I managed to get the last one, pretty lucky huh." Naruto said still smiling, Mr Brunner nodded.

"I see, good for you then" the Latin teacher replied jovially. "By the way Mr Uzumaki we still have ten minutes if you wanted to eat lunch." Naruto smiled and walked back into the museum as Percy walked towards Grover, most likely to get him out of the rain.

"Thanks Mr Brunner but I think I'm going to take one last look at that painting" he replied walking back inside not even waiting for an answer.

The smile slipped from Mr Brunner's lips "that blade" he muttered "it's cursed."

Five minutes later found Naruto in front of the painting of Amaterasu, he got down on one knee, right hand over his heart. Like a knight awaiting orders from his king, his mouth opened, Naruto just knew that he was going to do something stupid soon and was planning to ask for the goddesses blessing and protection. He closed his eyes and the words he wanted to speak changed instead of asking Amaterasu for her blessing, Naruto said five simple words. "Mother, please watch over me" with his eyes closed Naruto missed the small flare of black flames around Shusui that confirmed that his mother had got that message.

**XXX**

Now both Naruto and Percy were used to some kind of weird experience, but usually they were over quickly. But for the remainder of the school year no one had even heard of a Miss Dodd's, Naruto went and back check the staff listings, she didn't exist there either. As a matter of fact the position of pre-algebra teacher had apparently been vacant for almost six months. Something did not add up and it was starting to grate. Everyone was convinced that Miss Kur a perky blond woman who neither Naruto nor Percy had ever seen before had been the pre-algebra teacher for the last six months. When Naruto had gotten desperate and checked class photos he found one, a picture of Miss Dodd's, the blond had discreetly showed it to a few of her 'prized pupils' they apparently didn't know her. This left two options in Naruto's mind, either one he had finally lost it completely. Or two this was far bigger than he had ever imagined it to be, the blond was still debating which one was worse.

Percy was less discreet about trying to find out if anyone at all remembered Miss Dodd's, he would spring a reference once every now and then in conversation just to see how people would react. They either thought he was crazy, fucking with them or delusional. That being said Naruto's evidence proved Miss Dodd's existence, which meant they had forgotten, the real question soon became how. The blond had also noticed that a teacher had tried to steal Shusui, why a teacher you ask. It was simple they forgot to lock the door, and the door hadn't been forced that meant they had the keys, therefore it had to be a teacher. Well Naruto supposed it could have been a student but he was sure he would have heard about the skeleton key of a teacher going missing. He had been trying to get his hand on one for ages after all. The blond's money was on Brunner, he had no solid proof but the man had a pen that could turn into a sword, he would not put it past him to be able to see a cursed blade when he saw one.

Grover knew something. Both Percy and Naruto knew that. When Percy sprung a Miss Dodd's reference on him he hesitated, the information hold back kind of hesitate. In fact the only reason that Grover had not been subjected to some form of interrogation yet had been Percy, Naruto and his friendship. Whatever had happened at the museum Grover and Mr Brunner were going to great lengths to cover something up. On the fortunate side of things Percy had been able to bring up his grade average from D's to C's and having someone to talk to helped stop the nightmares about Miss Dodd's. Naruto had no idea why he was not affected and having nightmares, he just chalked it up to his battle persona.

The day finally came when both Naruto and Percy were pushed a little too far. Funnily enough it was not Nancy Bobofit that pushed them too far but their English teacher. Both being dyslexic made English hard enough but when he pick on them for no reason that just pushed them over the edge. Percy had been on thin ice with Yancy from day one and Naruto had been caught setting up a prank the day before so when they both snapped Percy called Mr Nickel an old sot.

Naruto wasn't quite as nice, he called the man 'a lousy excuse for a human being, who looked like the best part of him had ran down the crack of his momma's ass and ended up as a stain on the mattress.' Yeah he didn't take that too well. The headmaster sent a letter to their homes making it official that they would not be invited back next year to Yancy academy. Both Naruto and Percy were a bit apprehensive about leaving Grover though. Sure he was hiding things from them but he was still a friend and he would be an easy target when they were gone. Maybe Naruto should teach him how to nail people with a pencil, could come in handy one day.

Naruto managed to convince himself that it was fine that he would not be going back to Yancy, though part of him felt saddened. His mother had asked he do one thing, attend a boarding school close enough that he could still do Kenjutsu, it was her last wish for him, and he couldn't even do that right. But he was willing to admit there were things he would miss about Yancy, the view of the sky out of his dorm window, the fact that the woods made for a great training ground for Kenjutsu, Grover, he could also add Mr Brunner to that list, man was hiding something but he wasn't a bad guy and he always had faith that both Percy and he could do well.

As exam week got closer Latin was the only test Naruto had bothered studying for, he just couldn't find the energy to study the others. Besides his dyslexia wasn't as bad as Percy's he might not like his other classes but he could probably get away with not studying for them. It was thoughts like this that were going through Naruto's head as he pulled on his hippo pyjama's and placed Shusui next to the bed in easy drawing reach should he need it.

His door was knocked on. Naruto opened it to find it was Percy, it looked important. The blond ushered his friend inside. "What's the matter?" Naruto asked, he had been looking forward to getting some sleep after all.

"It's Mr Brunner and Grover I know we thought they were in on it before but now I have proof." Percy stated, Naruto motioned for him to continue. "Well I went to Brunner's office to see if he had some kind of trick up his sleeve to help me remember names for the Latin exam, he was their but he wasn't alone Grover was with him. They said something about a kindly one in the school."

Naruto nodded "I think we can safely say that the monster that Miss Dodd's turned into was probably that kindly one."

Percy nodded in return before picking up the story again. "Then they talked about us being in danger and some summer solstice dead line, apparently they want us to mature more before they let us in on whatever it is they're doing" Naruto grimaced, he could think of a number of ways this could end for him, most of them were bad. "Apparently they used something called the mist to erase the student's memories and replace them. They want us alive next fall. I'd say that would be when they would consider us to be mature enough. After that I dropped my mythology book and hid in a class room. Whatever came out of Mr Brunner's office was definitely larger than a man and was holding a bow." Percy finished, Naruto considered the information.

"Seems like Brunner's something like Dodd's only friendly. Not much we can do now Percy go and get some rest, we have hell tomorrow" Naruto said kindly, getting a nod from his friend. Naruto turned the light off and slipped under the covers, bringing Shusui slightly closer, he felt warm, much warmer than he ever had before as well as protected and safe. Was this how children felt when their mothers hugged them? Naruto dozed off and didn't notice the black flames dancing around Shusui's form.

Naruto groaned as he walked out of the Latin exam room, he was sure that he passed. He was also sure that three hours was far too long to hold an exam of any kind, let alone Latin. His eyes were swimming with Greek and Roman names, before they managed to leave though Mr Brunner called them both back. Naruto assumed from the way he acted that Mr Brunner was friendly, that did not stop his hand from gripping Shusui's non-existant sheath, it was a handy trick and a wonderful sword his mother had left him. Mr Brunner looked them both up and down "Naruto, Percy, please do not be discouraged by leaving Yancy it's...it's for the best." He added after a second, Naruto's hand was still gripping Shusui's non-existent sheath.

Mr Brunner's tone was kind but it still did embarrass Naruto and Percy to be kicked out. Naruto especially when he considered his mothers last wishes, her last wishes and he hadn't even been able to do that right. Nancy Bobofit smirked at them, Naruto pulled out a pencil, she made sarcastic kissing motions at him, Brunner turned around, her face found another gash on it courtesy of a Naruto propelled pencil. She yelped in pain and clutched her cheek, Mr Brunner turned around. Before frowning disapprovingly "Miss Bobofit may I ask who did that to you!" Mr Brunner demanded, Nancy went to answer right up until Naruto pulled out a pen at which point she clammed up.

"It's nothing Sir I just slipped and cut myself on my own pen, sorry sir" Nancy answered. Mr Brunner didn't look like he believed it but chose to let it drop. He turned back to Percy and Naruto, who had already pocketed the pen again. Mr Brunner looked at them both sombrely "I do not believe this is the right place for you, either of you. Something tells me that you would both do better elsewhere, I do not know where but I do hope that you find it." Mr Brunner finished smiling at the two, either Naruto or Percy could have taken the words the wrong way and been offended by them, instead the sincerity behind them made the two smile.

"Thanks Mr Brunner" Percy said before walking out.

Naruto nodded to Mr Brunner "don't go fighting any kindly ones sir" Naruto added as he walked out the door, Brunner's widened eyes and slack jaw being the last things he saw before he walked out into the hall and set off his dorm at a jog. He overheard what people were talking about on his way back, how they were going to the Caribbean or Greece or somewhere else. They were juvenile delinquents, but they were rich juvenile delinquents, their fathers were executives or ambassadors or celebrities.

Naruto sighed, seeing them was like being reminded that not only did he not have any parents but people who were bigger assholes than he was did, it was both infuriating and depressing at the same time. He wanted to say goodbye to Grover before they left but didn't have to, Grover had booked a ticket on the same charter bus that Percy and he had. So there they were the three of them heading back into Manhattan, Naruto quietly dreading what he was going to say to matron Lyinda. She had always been a kind woman but Naruto had no idea how she would take this, but he suspected that it was not well.

During the bus ride Grover was constantly looking at the other passengers nervously. Now that Naruto thought about it Grover had always been frigidity when they left Yancy. "Grover calm down" Naruto said causing his friend to look at him "we'll be fine, trust me." It didn't seem to assure him too much but Grover did look less jumpy after, well at least it helped a little.

"Looking for kindly one's?" Percy asked, Naruto held in a groan, he was sure this was some kind of karmic punishment for his parting shot at Mr Brunner.

Grover damn near jumped out of his seat, Percy admitted to eavesdropping. Grover tired to cover himself "look Percy, Naruto, I was just worried for you guy's okay. I mean hallucinating about a demon maths teacher, so I was telling Mr Brunner that you must be over stressed or something because there's no such thing as-"

"Grover" Naruto interrupted causing the boy to look at him, Naruto gave him a tired smile. "You suck at lying, you know that right?"

Percy threw in his own agreement "he's got that right." Grover's ears turned pink and from his shirt pocket he fished out a pair of business cards. Naruto took one look at it and his eyes widened, he had never been able to read something so clearly.

_Grover Underwood_

_Keeper_

_Half-Blood Hill_

_Long Island New York_

_800 009 0009_

"Just take this okay, call me if something comes up." Grover told us both, Naruto and Percy nodded, a little dubiously.

"What's half-b-" Was as far as Naruto got before Grover slammed his hands over the blonds mouth.

"Don't say it out loud" Grover hissed, Naruto's eyebrow rose but he nodded. "That's my summer address"

Naruto and Percy nodded "Okay" Percy said somewhat glumly, "so call if I want to visit your mansion?" Percy asked, if it wasn't for the fact this was so damned important Naruto would have laughed. He was sure that Percy was reading into this too far, and coming up with completely the wrong answers.

Grover nodded "or if you need me" he added.

"Not that I don't appreciate the gesture Grover but besides to hang out what else would we call you for?" Naruto asked, it was the start of a friendly interrogation. Which effectively meant Naruto would try to talk Grover into telling him what he wanted to know, if it was an unfriendly interrogation Shusui would be out and ready to take limbs off by now.

Grove looked as if he was struggling with himself "look guys the truth is I'm kind of supposed to protect you." Grover admitted, Naruto smiled he knew there was more to this than met the eye.

"Grover" Percy said lowly "what exactly are you protecting us from" he asked. There came a huge grinding noise from beneath them, black smoke filled the bus and the driver asked everyone to please get off. The three filed outside with everyone else. Naruto wasn't too worried, the worst that could happen was the bus blowing up and he doubted Shusui could even be damaged, let alone by something that weak. The three found themselves with the rest of the passengers out on a country lane, nothing but trees on this side of the road.

On the other however, across four lanes of asphalt, shimmering with a heat haze, was an old fashioned fruit stand. The stuff on sale looked really good, strawberries, peaches, hell Naruto would swear blind he could even see some creaming soda in a bathtub filled with ice. There were no customers though, just three old ladies out the front knitting socks, the size of sweaters. While rocking back and forth on their chairs, well at least they looked like they were having fun. All three of the woman looked ancient, pale faces, skin like old leather, bony arms, white hair held back by bandanna's.

Weirdly enough Naruto could swear they were looking right at him. Naruto looked back to ask Percy and Grover their opinions, only to find Grover was bone white and looked like he had just been told the day he would die. "Grover, are you okay?" Naruto asked, his brown haired friend seized the front of his shirt.

"Please tell me they aren't looking at you" Grover choked out. Naruto looked back to the old ladies, no definitely looking at him. "They are aren't they" Grover said he sounded light-headed, Naruto nodded.

"Yeah weird huh, hey Percy, think those sock's would fit me?" Naruto asked, flinging a finger back to the women.

Grover gripped his shirt a little tighter "not funny" he hissed out. Oh Naruto didn't know he found it kind of funny the way Grover was over reacting. Naruto looked back to the old ladies just in time to see the middle one take out a huge pair of scissors, gold and silver. She snipped the thread connecting the two socks together, leaving Naruto to wonder who they were for. Sasquatch, Godzilla, something else?

Grover made Naruto promise to let him walk him back to his place, Naruto was going to Percy's first anyway and agreed. Grover looked at Naruto for the rest of the trip as if picking out the kinds of flowers that he should have on his grave.

**XXX**

Naruto and Percy ended up bailing on Grover at the bus station, okay yes it was rude but he was freaking them out. Muttering things like 'why does this always happen' and 'why sixth grade', it was actually starting to scare Naruto. Percy and Naruto threw their stuff in a cab and jumped inside "East 104th and York" Percy called out to the cab driver who grunted in acknowledgement and sped off.

Percy spent the rest of the trip telling Naruto about his mother Sally Jackson, Percy already knew Naruto was an orphan. Though he did note that Naruto had never told him his parent's names, not that he had ever asked, but Naruto also didn't seem to want to share either.

Apparently Sally had a pretty screwed up life, her parents died when she was five in a plane crash and she was raised by her uncle. Who by all accounts didn't really care about her at all, she wanted to be a novelist so she spent high school saving up enough to pay for a collage with a good creative writing program. Then her uncle got cancer and she had to quit school in her senior year to take care of him, after he died she was left no money, no family and no diploma. Apparently the only really break was meeting Percy's dad. She apparently doesn't like to talk about him because it makes her sad. She also has no pictures of him, something that Naruto found mildly suspicious but played it up to his paranoid streak acting up.

Sally apparently took odd jobs, took night classes to get her high school diploma and raised Percy on her own. Naruto found he actually respected the woman a lot for that, he had seen more than one child dropped off at the orphanage because their parents didn't want to care for them. She also never complained or got mad, even once. She married a man named Gabe Ugliano who was apparently the world's biggest jerk, Naruto made a mental note to threaten the man before he left, he got the feeling that holding Shusui to the man's balls and telling him exactly what was going to happen from then on would be an effective strategy.

When Percy was young he nicked named him smelly Gabe, apparently the guy smelled like stale garlic pizza, lovely. Wrapped in gym shorts, Naruto cursed his luck and then chose to make sure that he threatened Gabe before he left. It brought a strangely satisfying smile to his face, Naruto couldn't see Shusui wreathed in black flames, signifying the katana's agreement.

**Illuminating Heaven: The Lightning Thief, Chapter Two- End.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Illuminating Heaven: The Lightning Thief**

**Chapter Three: I See The Assassin Has Failed**

Author's note-

I am unsure whether to be impressed with myself or horribly depressed that I have so little of a life that I have been able to throw out three eight thousand or so word chapters in three days, anyway enjoy.

Thank my BETA Zimbolical.

**Story Start-**

Okay five seconds after entering the apartment, Naruto was willing to admit Gabe was a slob. Shit was thrown all over the place, boots on the tables, old pizza boxes lying around. From what he had been told Naruto knew this was not Sally's doing so that left one person, Gabe. Who was currently sitting in the living room smoking a noxious smelling cigar and playing poker, he kind of looked like a tusk less walrus with his shirt and the rolls of fat on him. The man was sitting around a poker table with two equally ugly friends of his, Naruto's nose picked up on their smell and fought against the urge to gag, sometimes heightened senses were a bitch. The television bleared out ESPN, that no one was watching as they were far to engrossed in their card game. Chips and beer cans thrown about all over the carpet, oh yes Naruto would be threatening Gabe with much bodily harm before this day was over. Shisui rattled slightly inside its scabbard, it seemed his blade and he was in agreement. Gabe looked up from his card game at Percy, Naruto wanted to deck him right there and then, the look in his eyes like Percy was below him. Naruto hated that look, it was the same one that some people had in their eyes when he told them he was an orphan, like he was less than them or something.

"So you're home" Gabe rasped out, Naruto resisted the urge to vomit on the carpet. The man's breath smelled like rotting meat.

Percy nodded stiffly "where is my mom?" he asked.

Gabe snorted "working" he growled back. Naruto fought down the impulse to say a snide comment like 'shouldn't you be working to?' It was a hard task, but he managed it, barely. "You got any cash?" the smelly man questioned, Naruto's eyes turned to the table, poker. Lyinda the matron had taught him how to play once he was good at it too. The blond was also a little angry 'got any cash' this man's son, step-son or not, comes through the front door after six months and the first words out of this lardasses mouth are 'got any cash?' No 'hi how are you' or 'welcome back' hell he didn't even give Percy a wave or something. Apparently Gabe managed the electronics Megamart in Queens, but he stayed home most of the time. How the man hadn't been fired yet was a mystery to Naruto, it seemed that the electronics Megamart needed to review its hiring and firing policy because there's cannot be any good. Gabe looked over to Naruto "who's your loser friend?" Naruto saw Percy tense and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Names Naruto Uzumaki, nice to meet you Gabe I'm not that bad at poker, care to deal me in?" The blond asked the fat balding man went to laugh right up until Naruto placed down two hundred dollars on the table. Now Naruto was by no means a rich person but his mother's account did give him an allowance once a week, this was the result of saving that for a month and a half.

Gabe eyed the money, Naruto held back a smirk; he could see the gears spinning in the greedy man's head. "Fine brat but don't cry when you lose" Naruto let out a vicious smile, oh now this was going to be fun. Gabe turned back to Percy "now how about that cash?" he asked.

"Sorry don't have any" Percy lied, Naruto hoped that it worked but noticed Gabe's raised greasy eyebrow and sighed internally, looked like it didn't. It seemed the greasy bastard could smell money that was an interesting skill, not that it would help him much in the end. It also raised the question of how he could smell anything above his own stench.

"You must have paid for a taxi from the station, probably paid with a twenty that means you have about six? Seven bucks change? Hand it over" the greasy man demanded, almost signing his own death warrant when he almost grabbed Percy only stopping due to a strange rattling, Naruto was lucky that none of them could tell it was Shusui. "Someone expects to live under this roof he gotta carry his own weight." Gabe said holding out his hand, "am I right Eddy?"

The man called Eddy, who Naruto would latter find out was the supervisor of the apartment building, looked at Percy with a twinge of sympathy in his eyes. It was then that Naruto decided that if he killed Gabe and his other friend Eddy would get away with just a maiming. "Come on Gabe the kid just got here" Gabe looked at him for a second before looking back to Percy.

"Am I right he repeated" Percy snarled.

"Fine" he dug the spare money he had out of his pocket and all but threw it at Gabe. "Hope you lose" he added, Naruto took a spot at the table; he would make it both quick and brutal.

"I wouldn't be so snooty if I were you brain boy, your report card came" Gabe yelled out after the retreating Percy, Naruto picked up the cards he had just been dealt by Eddy, three kings and two queens, full house, yes he would make this both fast and brutal.

**XXX**

When Sally Jackson came home half an hour later she was treated to an interesting sight. Three fully grown men almost crying out in anguish while a blond child with whisker marks was smiling and counting money, she found her voice a few seconds later. "What is going on here?" Sally asked Naruto looked up from his money counting.

"Ah you must be Sally, Percy's mother. It's nice to meet you my names Naruto, a friend of Percy's. You must be confused, your husband was playing a poker game when we came in and I decided to join in and test my luck." Naruto said smiling; he had made a killing in this game, his little stash of money going from two hundred dollars all the way up to eight hundred and fifty. For a few seconds Naruto could swear that Gabe was thinking of betting his Camero, too bad he didn't, Naruto would have enjoyed relieving the man of his pride and joy.

Sally nodded in a distracted way "I see, where is Percy now?" Sally asked Naruto stood up, pocketing his winnings.

"In his room, I was just about to go see him myself, would you mind showing me the way?" Sally nodded in response to the blonds question before beckoning for him to follow.

The blond followed the brown haired woman, the looked back at Gabe and his friends "prey" he said with a nod before following after her.

When Naruto saw the state of Percy's room he was almost ready to change the plan to deal with Gabe from threaten to maim. The place looked like a pig sty, cigar ash on the carpet, the smell of stale beer and probably worst of all Gabe's cologne. Sally saw Percy and her eyes lit up, she ran forward and swept him up into a hug. Naruto couldn't help but feel a little envious, a flash appeared in his mind, red hair, blood, claw, lullaby, lost, found, reclaimed, given up, waiting. The words were accompanied by vague images but nothing concrete, he didn't see the black ember fall towards the floor. "Oh look how you've grown since Christmas!" Sally said and hugged Percy tighter, it looked nice.

Naruto caught a whiff of her scent, chocolate, caramel, vanilla, sweets, she smelled like sweets. Not that it should be surprising, she was wearing a 'Sweet On America' uniform after all. They looked so happy, Naruto sighed, 'waiting' the word entered his mind again, and another ember fell. Sally disengaged from the hug and sat on the edge of the bed before demanding to know everything that Percy hadn't put in his letters, Naruto took that as his cue to leave. He slipped Shusui out of the room as well and waited in the kitchen, the living room was not an option. It was probably a perfect little scene in that room, right up until Gabe decided to speak "hey Sally!" He screeched from the living room "How about some bean dip huh!?" Naruto walked to the fridge and pulled out the dip before walking into the living room and placing it on the table. "Never mind your loser friend got it!" Gabe yelled out, Naruto retreated to the kitchen, trying to stave off Shusui's mental assault about how wonderful of would be to relieve Gabe of his tongue. Naruto had to admit that the thoughts were not unpleasant; maybe Shusui was onto something this time.

The blond leaned against the counter, slow breaths in and out. Sally did actually seem like such a nice woman, she deserved better than Gabe, he took another look out into the mess of a living room, she deserved better than this. Percy and Sally walked into the kitchen and Naruto gave them both a quick wave, Percy smiled, Sally looked a little unsure but supportive. "Naruto" Percy started, catching the blond's attention. "How would you like to come to the beach with us? Three nights in Montauk, if you're interested."

Naruto was a little taken back, he had heard that they used to take these trips all the time but had to stop recently due to money problems. It was quite obviously something special between the two of them, he shouldn't intrude. On the other hand however it would mean that he didn't have to face matron Lyinda for another couple of day's "are you sure?" Naruto asked "this seems like something special to you two I don't want to intrude."

It surprised the blond when it was Sally that shook her head "no it's fine" his friend's mother assured him. "Percy thinks of you as a friend and I want to get to know you a little better too so it's no problem if you come with us." Sally assured him, Naruto let out a breath. Don't look gift horses in the mouth, he told himself.

"Thank you" two words, just two words contained enough emotion to bring people to their knees. Naruto stretched raising Shusui above his head "I would love to go to the beach with you two" the blond admitted honestly.

Sally nodded "then we can leave right after I get changed" the brown haired woman declared. Walking to her room to change her clothes, Naruto looked at Percy who smiled at him.

"Sooo how much did you win?" Percy asked Naruto just chuckled.

"Six hundred and fifty plus my original two hundred puts me at eight hundred and fifty wonderful dollars total." the blond replied before handing Percy the money Gabe had taken from him when he came home, the black haired boy took it gratefully.

"Suckers?" Percy asked.

"Suckers" Naruto confirmed.

The two waited in companionable silence, they didn't need to say anything. Naruto walked to the phone and picked it up before throwing a quick look at Percy who nodded. The blond dialled the number of matron Lyinda, he was not looking forward to this conversation. The phone rang; Naruto was starting to think she wouldn't pick up that almost made him feel a little better.

There was a click as the phone was picked up, "Lyinda here may I ask who is calling" came the kind elderly voice on the other end of the line, Naruto winced.

"Hey grandmother it's Naruto" Naruto had a habit of calling Lyinda grandmother or grandma, all the orphans she looked after did. Naruto heard the intake of breath on the other end of the line and held in a sigh.

"Hello Naruto how have you been?" He almost sighed in relief, she wasn't pissed at least.

"Fairly good grandma, you?" The blond asked, genuinely concerned about his surrogate grandparent.

"I have been well, now when you come back I do believe we have to find you a new school" Lyinda replied, Naruto was glad to hear no sign of disapproval or anger in her tone.

"Of course, but grandma I have to ask something first"

"And that would be?"

"A friend invited me to the beach with them, three nights in Montauk. I was wondering if you would mind me going." Naruto asked, as his legal guardian Lyinda had the last word on everything he did. He could almost see the calculating look in the old matron's eyes as she thought about it.

"That should be fine Naruto." This time he did let out a breath of relief, "I don't think you are entirely to blame for being expelled from Yancy so we will talk about it when you get back okay" the matron said cheerfully.

"Thank you grandma" Naruto replied, a smile on his face.

"Its fine child, just make sure you have fun. I will see you when you get back" Lyinda's voice sounded happy to him "have a nice time Naruto"

Naruto nodded; despite the fact he knew that Lyinda couldn't see him. "Of course grandma, you take care of yourself while I'm gone okay?" He heard her laugh on the other end of the line.

"I will child, goodbye"

"Goodbye grandma" Naruto replied hanging up and turning to Percy, "okay I'm good" he said smiling.

Percy nodded "good to know" he said a smile on his face. Percy knew just how much the old matron's approval and acceptance mattered to Naruto.

The blond looked down at Shusui who thankfully had stopped sending him images of cutting Gabe's tongue out of his mouth, it was such a good idea Naruto wasn't sure how long he could resist it for. Normally he would never think of actually carrying out one of Shusui's suggestions but considering how much of an ass Gabe was he was starting to reconsider his stance on that. Sally walked back into the room, now dressed in casual clothing "ready to go?" she asked, prompting a nod from both Percy and Naruto.

They walked out into the living room, Gabe and his friends still at the poker table; Naruto was pleased to note that they were no longer betting. Gabe looked up, his small eyes narrowing; Naruto thought he looked a bit more like a pig than a walrus at that moment. "Where are you going?" the man rasped out, Naruto's eyes narrowed, this was not good.

"We were just leaving for the trip honey" Sally replied evenly, Naruto picked up on her tone. Especially the word 'honey' that was not the tone of someone having an argument with their spouse, that was the tone of someone putting up with a person for a reason, the kind of tone that Naruto had when dealing with Miss Dodd's. But why would Sally be with Gabe for a reason, to give Percy a father figure maybe? If so she probably made a bad choice, Percy would have been far better off with no father figure than having Gabe.

"The trip? You were serious about that?" Gabe asked, his eyes still contorted like a pigs, actually Naruto took that back. It was an insult to pigs; at least they had an excuse for living in filth.

"I knew it" Percy muttered "he won't let us go."

"Of course he will" Sally replied, in the same even tone. "Your step-father is just worried about money, that's all." Naruto noted the reference of step-father rather than father. Another hint that she didn't love him, but that also implied she was not with Gabe because Percy needed a father figure otherwise she would have called Gabe Percy's father. So for what reason was she with him? Naruto pushed the question aside; he did not need to wonder about this right now. "Besides" Sally added "Gabriel won't have to settle for bean dip for the rest of the weekend, I will make more than enough seven layer dip to last that long. Guacamole, Sour cream, the whole works."

Gabe softened "so this money for your trip it comes out of your clothes budget right?" Naruto almost snarled when Gabe put the stress of your, Percy actually did snarl, an ominous rattle appeared for a second before Shusui calmed down as it reacted to its masters anger.

"Yes honey" Sally assured Gabe.

"And you won't take my care anywhere but there and back" Gabe asked. Naruto almost sighed; Gabe had been so close to betting that car too, oh well you couldn't have everything.

"I promise we will be careful with your car dear." Sally assured her husband again.

Gabe scratched his double chin, actually it was more like a quadruple chin but who was Naruto to judge. "Well maybe if you get started on that seven dip now and the kid apologises for interrupting my poker game" Naruto felt the urge to cut him up with Shusui, the cursed blade actually pushing itself out slightly from the sheath slightly so around a centimetre of bare blade was visible.

"I'm incredibly sorry for interrupting your incredibly important poker game; please go back to it right now." Percy muttered, Gabe's eyes narrowed, probably trying to detect sarcasm in his friends tone and failing miserably. Naruto was unsure if that was because Gabe's brain was too small to understand sarcasm or because he couldn't work out that Percy's entire statement was sarcastic, either way the walrus in human clothing turned back to his poker game.

"Whatever" the walrus replied, picking up his cards in two flippers like hands. Seriously how the man was able to grip anything with fingers the size of sausages amazed and bewildered Naruto.

"Thank you Percy" Sally said "when we get to Mantauk we can talk more about whatever you've forgotten to tell me." Naruto saw it, it was only there for a second but he saw it. The same fear that was in Grover's eyes was mirrored in Sally's right now, did she know more than she was letting on. Then she smiled and Naruto doubted his own eyes, must have been a trick of the light.

Around an hour later they were ready to leave, Percy and Sally went to walk out of the apartment and Naruto stopped. "I forgot something in my bags" the blond said smoothly "you guys go down I'll be there in a minute" the two nodded, Naruto turned back to face the apartment. Purple light turned to black flame in his left hand, Shusui dropping into it like a mere extension of his limbs. He stalked back inside, Gabe's friends had already left and the man himself was still sitting behind the table. "What do you wan-" Shusui leapt from its sheath and cleaved through the table like it was cutting through water. The blade cut into Gabe's neck slightly, the man went pale his pig like eyes now looking straight into Naruto's own yellow.

"Listen closely you piece of shit" Naruto started, adding more pressure to Shusui causing it to cut slightly deeper into Gabe's skin. "I do not like the way you treat Sally or Percy and frankly the way you force them to live is disgusting. When Sally and Percy come back this apartment is to be clean and liveable again, if it's not" Shusui flicked out. Slamming into Gabe's left arm and causing the man to scream in pain. "What I just did was hyper extend the ligaments in your left arm, sure it hurts but it's not permanent. If this apartment is not clean by the time they get back I will cut the tendons in your arms, so you will never be able to do anything more than tie your shoes with your hands. If that doesn't work then I'll take your legs and I will keep coming back until you make their lives better, do we understand each other?" Naruto asked, Gabe nodded, Shisui was sheathed "you have three days, might want to get started."

The blond descended to the car and jumped in still holding Shusui. "Is that what you forgot?" Sally asked Naruto nodded looking at the blade fondly.

"Yes it's my mother's memento, I don't go anywhere for very long without it." Naruto admitted smiling at the brown haired woman, who nodded.

"I wonder where Gabe is, he normally comes down to see his car off" Percy mused, Naruto shrugged and refrained from commenting.

**XXX**

The drive itself was relatively uninteresting, mostly just making small talk and Sally actually asked a little about Shusui, which prompted a small feeling like a glow from the cursed blade. Naruto guessed that it was happy someone besides Naruto was asking about it. The rental cabin was on the south shore right up at the tip of Long Island. It was a little pastel box with faded curtains, half sunken into the dunes. There was always spiders in the cabinets and sand in the sheets, hell according to Percy most of the time the sea was too cold to swim in. But he loved the place all the same. Now Sally had never come out and told Percy but he knew why it was special to her, it was the place she had met Percy's father.

It was something to see, as they grew closer and closer to Montauk Sally seemed to get, well younger. As if years of work and worry disappeared from her face. Her eyes turning to the colour of the sea, not that the last one was too surprising to Naruto, his own eyes turned yellow after all. They arrived around sunset and opened the place up and then jumped straight into cleaning. When they went and fed blue corn chips to the sea gulls Naruto had to ask, the story behind the blue food was actually quite simple. Apparently Gabe had once told Sally that there was no such thing as blue food, they had a fight about it, it seemed like a small thing at the time to Percy. But ever since Sally had gone out of her way to eat blue, blue birthday cakes, blueberry smoothies, corn chips, tortillas, you get the point. This was further proof to both Naruto and Percy that Sally was definitely not suckered in by Gabe; still it did further raise the question as to why she stayed with him.

When it got dark the three of them roasted marshmallows and hotdogs and swapped stories. Eventually Percy asked about his father, Naruto went to get up and leave, this was far too personal for him to be around for. Percy grabbed him and pulled him back down, the blond didn't struggle and sat back down, Sally's eyes went misty as if she was walking through the fog of time. "He was kind" Sally started, a small smile gracing her features. "Tall, handsome and powerful, but he was also gentle. You have his black hair you know Percy and his green eyes." Sally popped a blue jellybean into her mouth. "I wish he could see you Percy, he would be so proud." Naruto couldn't help the smile that came to his face; he knew Percy was wondering what his father would be proud of. But he would also be glad that Sally thought his father would be proud of him, Naruto knew that from experience. He had only met her a few times but Miss Marvell apparently knew his mother and told him that she would have been proud of him if she could see him, it warmed his heart, Naruto liked Miss Marvell she was always happy to tell him stories that she knew about his mother or Kushi-chan as she called her.

"How old was I" Percy asked quietly "you know when he left?"

"He was only with me for one summer Percy, this beach, this cabin." Sally replied, traces of melancholy in her tone.

"I thought he knew me as a baby?" Percy asked confused, Sally shook her head sadly.

"No honey, he knew I was expecting a baby." Sally corrected, the sighed, it was obvious the man's disappearance had saddened her greatly. "But he never saw you; he had to leave before you were born." Naruto could see the different emotions running through Percy's eyes but didn't comment; right now his job was not to talk, just to listen.

"Are you going to send me away again to another boarding school?" Percy asked, Sally sighed.

"I don't know" Sally admitted "I think, I think we'll have to do something."

"Because you don't want me around?" Percy asked, Naruto knew that was the heightened emotion from talking about his father making itself know but damn was that a low blow.

Sally leaned over and squeezed Percy's hand tight "no Percy that's not it at all." Sally replied, "I, I have to honey." The words were said with desperation, Naruto wondered what could be causing it, maybe what he had seen earlier that day was not a trick of the light after all. "For your own good I have to send you away." Those words reminded Naruto of what Mr Brunner had said about them needing to go somewhere else.

"Because I'm not normal?" Percy asked.

Naruto chose to speak up "nothing wrong with not being normal Percy" the blond stated. Causing the two to be broken out of their privet moment, he held his left hand out, normally Naruto wouldn't consider doing this in front of others but he was willing to make an exception, just this once. Purple light and black flame mixed Shusui appearing in his hand, like it hadn't been left inside the cabin. "I'm not normal either Percy" Naruto said, a vicious smile gracing his face "I got your back buddy!" Naruto stated.

Percy couldn't help but smile at his blond friend "thanks Naruto" the blond shrugged.

Sally was stunned, black flames, she had read up on Greek mythology and from what she knew no god used black flames. Still considering that one factor alone, that of the fact the flames were black perhaps he had a connection to Hades, maybe, that would make it so all three of them had broken their oaths.

"Naruto" Sally started uncertainly "do you know anything about your parents?" She asked cautiously, Naruto shook his head.

"To the best of my understanding they died about four months after I was born" Naruto admitted. Sally winced; she really had just put her foot in her mouth with that one. "Their names were Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina." He continued Percy looked confused.

"Um why do you have your mother's name rather than your fathers?" He asked, Naruto nodded, it was a fair question.

"They were both of Japanese decent and my mother came from a clan, she was the last of that clan. When someone without a clan marries into one they take that clans name, hence my father's name should technically be Uzumaki Minato. But from what I have been told most people still called him Namikaze even after he was married so it kind of became a habit for me as well." Naruto finished prompting the other two to nod. "And I know a few things I have a couple of pictures and some vague memories, as difficult as that is to believe. Shusui here is the only physical thing I have from them though, my mother does still have a bank account that I get some money out of once in a while but Shusui is still the thing I value the most." Naruto finished giving the two Jackson's a summary of what he knew about his family.

**XXX**

That night Naruto had a dream, a woman black hair and pale skin smiled at her own reflection. She spun, her hair changing into a vibrant red, a clip that parted her hair to the left. He knew he was looking at his mother; she disappeared and came out in a village, he had never seen it before but it felt familiar. Four faces carved into a rock face, people walking around in some kind of flak jackets, she walked until she came to an apartment building. She was stopped by five people wearing animal masks. She fought; they lost and were beaten badly because of it. All except one with silver hair who was knocked out gently by a chop to the back of the neck, she ascended the stairs. Opening a door, a small apartment; a crib in the corner.

His mother walked to the crib and saw the baby lying there, yellow hair and whisker marks. She picked him up and hugged him to her, humming him a lullaby before she disappeared in black flames. Naruto felt himself waking, his eye snapped open and Naruto gripped Shusui so tightly his knuckles turned white. That dream scared him, he didn't know why, but it did. The blond forced himself to calm down, listening to the sounds around him. Wind, rain, he could hear the waves breaking on the shoreline, pounding the dunes as if they were a porn star. The sound of someone banging on the front door, wait a second, Naruto leapt out of the bunk bed he was sharing with Percy, Shusui still gripped tightly in his hand. The blade could feel its master's slight anxiety and Naruto could almost feel the blade making itself easier to draw, it was times like this that Naruto was glad the cursed blade liked him. As much as a semi sentient piece of metal could like a person anyway.

Naruto wrenched open the door and Shusui was swung cleanly out of its scabbard. The blond stopped just before Shusui took Grover's head from his shoulders, Grover looked at the blade resting on his neck, eyes wide. Naruto pulled the blade back and sheathed it again, "morning Grover" Naruto said as if nothing was out of the ordinary. His curly brown haired friend looked at him like he was insane.

"I-I w-was looking for you all night" Grover rasped out, Naruto found it kind of strange that he wasn't reacting more to almost having his head cut off. "WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING!?" Grover yelled, Naruto shrugged

"I didn't think it would be you" Naruto admitted, eyes turning back to blue. He looked back into the cabin and stopped, Sally looked terrified. Not of Grover, but of why he'd come.

"PERCY!" Sally shouted, still only just being heard over the rain "WHAT HAPPENED AT SCHOOL!" She demanded to know, so she did know what was going on. "WHAT DIDN'T YOU TELL ME"

Grover cursed in some other language, Naruto thought it was Greek. He quickly explained about Miss Dodd's, given that Percy still looked like he was in shock. Naruto finished and Sally went bone white, while Grover looked at Shusui with something resembling fear. Speaking of Grover "Grover" Naruto started, causing his friend to look at him "why are you half goat?" Yes Grover was neither wearing pants and in place of human legs there was instead a goat's hindquarter.

"I'll explain later we need to leave, now!" Naruto nodded and gabbed everything he could find, "what are you doing!?" Grover yelled "you won't have room for everything!"

Naruto ignored him and grabbed Percy's and Sally's duffle bags along with his own. "Yes we will" he growled out, dear sweet Kami he hoped he could make this work, it only had once before. He concentrated on the air before him and it bent and warped "OPEN THE GATE" the blond screamed. The fissure in the middle of the air split open, a golden glow Naruto threw the bags into the gap, they hit the golden glow and were sucked in "CLOSE THE GATE" he yelled again. The air bent and warped again before shutting, he looked back, Grover, Percy and Sally looked at him like he was some kind of strange fantastic creature, which was kind of irritating coming from Grover.

"What?" Naruto asked, innocently.

"Don't what me" Percy replied "what the hell was that?" A bellow sounded over the cabin, it made their hair stand on end and chilled them to the bone and Sally grabbed her purse and the car keys.

"Naruto can explain later, right now we need to leave!" The other three nodded and made a mad dash for the car, well a mad trot in Grover's case. Well at least the story about his muscular disease and the fact h could move so fast when it was enchilada day made sense now. Percy still seemed to be absorbed by the fact Grover had hooves, they jumped into the car, Sally following them who quickly slammed it into gear and sped off.

**XXX**

The night was spent winding down country roads at break neck speeds while wind hammered the car. It was Naruto's kind of driving and Sally was working the 78 Camero like a rally driver, now this was satisfying. Rain lashed the windshield; Naruto did have to wonder how Sally could see anything, if she could see anything. Every time the lightning outside struck he watched Percy look at Grover, probably wondering if he was wearing shag carpet pants or something. Dumb he knew but people would go to unbelievable lengths to maintain some form of normality, then again Naruto was not most people, growing up with a cursed blade would do that to a person.

"So Grover you know my mom?" Percy asked, Naruto shrugged, well that was a good a place to start as any he supposed.

Grover shook his head "no not really. I mean we've never met in person but she knew I was watching you" Grover stated, Percy raised an eyebrow.

"Watching me?"

Grover nodded "Keeping tabs on you" he looked at Naruto "the both of you. You know making sure you were okay, and safe. I wasn't faking being your friend though, I am your friend."

"What are you exactly?" Percy asked Grover shook his head.

"That doesn't matter right now" he stated, then looked out the back of the Camero's window.

"It doesn't matter?" Percy deadpanned "from the waist down my best friend is a donkey, I think it matters."

Grover let out a sharp throaty bleat, Naruto shook his head. "Goat Percy" the blond corrected.

"What?" The black haired twelve year old asked.

"Goat" Naruto repeated "Grover is a satyr, half man and half goat. Considering the way he acted when you said donkey I'm guessing that other satyr's would probably trample you for that."

Percy looked at Naruto like he was insane "how are you so calm?" He asked, genuinely interested about how his friend could not lose his head in a situation like this.

"Percy I can create fissures in the air and use them to store things, in addition to that Shusui is a cursed blade that enjoys cutting people to pieces, I left normal behind a long time ago." Naruto admitted; Percy nodded still looking shaken by the revelations coming his way. Naruto was right though he had left normal behind a long time ago, he just hoped that his sanity hadn't gone with it.

"Wait a satyr, like in Mr Brunner's myths?"

Grover sighed "were those old ladies at the fruit stand a myth Percy?" Grover asked, a slight amount of desperation leaking into his tone. "Was Miss Dodd's a myth?"

"So you admit there was a Miss Dodd's." Percy replied, pointing an accusing finger at Grover.

"Of course there was a Miss Dodd's" Grover snapped back.

"This is one of those the 'less we knew' situation's isn't it." Naruto replied Grover nodded.

"Exactly less you two knew the less danger you were in, though it does seem to have blown up in our faces." The satyr admitted a little sheepishly. "The hope was that you two would think the kindly one was a hallucination, obviously that didn't work. You both started to realise who you were, well Percy more than Naruto he was already pretty attuned to the other side of the world before this happened." Grover gave Naruto a look that said 'explain', he held Shusui up.

"Cursed blade, spend enough time around things like Shusui and that will happen just to avoid you losing your marbles." The blond replied happily, Grover nodded still looking a little freaked out by the blade.

"If you know it's cursed, why don't you get rid of it." Grover asked, Naruto's face took on a look of fury before he calmed down and reminded him that Grover didn't know the full history behind Shusui and him.

"Grover, Shusui is the last memento I have of my mother, I would sooner part with my left arm." The blond snapped back, Grover held his hands up in defence, he knew he had just step on one hell of a nonnegotiable land mine. Shusui rattled in its sheath, making its anger known at the fact someone had just recommended that its master throw it away.

Grover looked at the rattling katana "is it doing that at me?" He asked hesitantly, Naruto nodded.

"You pissed Shusui off when you made that throw it away remark." Naruto told him, the satyr edged a little further away from the cursed blade.

"Wait a second 'who we are' what do you mean?" Percy asked; Grover went to answer when the strange bellowing noise rose again, closer this time. Whatever was after us was catching up, Shusui rattled in its scabbard and the blade was spoiling for a fight it seemed.

"Percy, Naruto" Sally's voice came from the driver's seat. "There is too much to explain and not enough time, we have to get the both of you to safety."

"Safety? Who's after us?"

"Oh nobody much" Grover stated nervously "just the lord of the dead and several of his most bloodthirsty minions."

Naruto groaned "well that just makes me feel so much better." Shusui rattled in the scabbard, Naruto looked at the blade. "Don't you give me that" he said looking at his sword, Shusui rattled again. "I know you want to fight but this thing could kill me" more rattling. "Okay yes Dodd's could have killed me as well but I think this might be worse" Shusui rattled some more. "FINE, if it comes down to it I will make sure to take whatever is chasing us head off, satisfied!?" Shusui rattled again, "damned smartass sword" Naruto muttered before looking at Percy and Grover who were staring at him with open mouths. "What? What's wrong?"

"Dude" Percy started.

"Did you just have an argument with your sword?" Grover finished.

Naruto sighed and held Shusui aloft again "cursed" he pointed out, slightly mollifying his friends.

Sally took a hard left and the Camero went onto a darkened road and started flying past farm houses and wooded hills. "Where are we going?" Percy asked Naruto seconded the question.

"A summer camp" Grover supplied "it's a place for people like you two that attract monsters to hide out and train."

"So we're in danger then" Naruto said with a sigh.

"Why? Because some old ladies cut yarn?" Percy asked, remembering Grover's freak out at the act earlier.

"Those weren't old ladies" Grover stated, causing both Naruto and Percy to look at him. "Those were the fates; do you understand the significance of that?" He asked in a strangled voice almost pleading with them to understand. "They only do that when you, someone, is about to die." Grover finished, Naruto let himself fall back into the seat behind him, so he was going to die? Shusui rattled in its scabbard.

'Guess your right buddy at the very least I'll go down swinging.' Naruto assured the blade, it rattled one last time signifying its agreement.

"Wait so I'm going to die?" Percy asked he looked stricken.

"I said you as in someone"

"No you said you as in me" Percy countered.

"BOYS!" Sally yelled from the front seat while taking a hard left. Naruto spun to look out the back window, whatever had been chasing them had caught up, he only saw it for a second but it was huge at least seven feet. That thing had gotten in front of them? It was lost out in the storm, Naruto turned back to face the road. He didn't have much hope left of out running it anymore, not when it actually managed to catch up and overtake them. "Almost there, another mile, please, please, please." She repeated as if begging the car to hold together. They were about to fight again, Naruto could feel it, his eyes turned yellow. A flash started, he twisted bringing Shusui to his body. A jaw rattling boom and the Camero exploded or at least it felt like it did, he was kind of glad that he hadn't won it from Gabe, now he didn't have to pay for repairs. He felt weightless for a second before he slammed into the driver's seat; Sally had swerved into a ditch.

"Ouch" came from next to him; Percy looked a little out of it but okay. Grover on the other hand, well he was slumped over, blood trickling out of his mouth, he looked unconscious. Naruto looked up, the roof had cracked open and rain was pouring in. The car had been stuck by lightning that was the only answer. If satyr's were real then it wasn't too far of a stretch to think the Greek gods probably were as well, if that was the case Naruto was going to prank Zeus's ass like a motherfucker for this.

Grover groaned "fooooood" Naruto couldn't help but laugh.

"At least he has a good grasp on the important things" the blond mused; a smile making its way onto his face.

"Percy" Sally asked, before she looked out the back window and gasped. Naruto looked back, the figure had caught up and he sure as hell did not look friendly.

"EVERYBODY OUT!" Naruto yelled, Shusui leapt from its scabbard and cut them a path out of the car.

Sally leapt out of the car, Naruto and Percy dragging a still out of it Grover followed. "SEE THAT TREE" Sally pointed to a gigantic pine tree at the crest of the nearest hill. "THAT'S THE PROPERTY LINE, RUN TO THE BIG FARM HOUSE AND SCREAM FOR HELP! DON'T STOP UNTIL YOU REACH THE DOOR" Sally screamed.

"MOM YOU'RE COMING TOO" Percy yelled back, Sally turned to him eyes sad.

"Food" Grover moaned again.

"I CAN'T CROSS THE PROPERTY LINE AND HE DOESN'T WANT ME HE WANT'S YOU!" Sally yelled Naruto got a good look at the figure; it was about nine feet tall, gigantic head, huge meaty hands, bulls horns, Naruto realised what it was.

"Motherfucker" the blond rasped out, Shusui rattled in its scabbard it was more than exited. It was one of the twenty one best swords in the world, and its wielder, one it actually liked no less, was facing a creature out of legend, this was what it was forged to do. Percy ran to Sally and dragged her back to Grover. Naruto swept the Styr onto his back and looked at them both, "run." They did, the three sprinting towards the property line, Naruto managing to keep up thanks to his training.

"Minot-" Naruto slapped his hand over Percy's mouth.

"No names, names have power." The blond told him, it was true. After all Shusui wouldn't have liked him half as much if he didn't know its name. "Call him Pasiphae's son or beefcake if you have to call it anything." Naruto told him, the blond stopped running and gave Grover to Percy. "Go" it was a simple word, it meant his death and he still said it.

"What?" Percy asked in disbelief. "No, no way, you're coming to."

Naruto's left hand came up, black flame, Shusui comfortably situated in his hand. He breathed, in, out, "no, no I'm not." Naruto said and walked towards the Minotaur. "Percy, get going, I can hold him here, while you go get help." He could see his friend wavering; Naruto put the icing on the proverbial cake. "Sally can't cross the property line either, the faster you get help the better." That did it; Percy took a look at his mother before adjusting Grover.

"I'll be back with help!" Percy yelled sprinting towards the property line.

Naruto chuckled "I won't hold my breath" the blond muttered.

Sally walked up next to him "when he charges jump straight to the side, he can't change directions well while charging." Naruto nodded and took his sword drawing stance. There was thirty meters between them; Naruto figured he had about six seconds. The Minotaur bellowed and charged, he slid into an Iai stance. The bull man came closer; Naruto checked his traction on the ground. Sally Jumped out of the way, the bull man got closer. Naruto could see him up close now, nose spewing out snot, foaming at the mouth, evil eyes gleaming in the lightning strikes. The bull continued its rush; torrent and swirling vigour, it raced forward and Naruto confronted him by also stepping forward. He jumped on a diagonal, Shusui coming free of its sheath and cutting into the bull man's left arm, Naruto landed on one knee behind his target. He heard the thump as a heavy object hit the ground "Ittoryu, Iai: Shishi Sonson" he knew it was a lucky shot, he wouldn't get another. Naruto turned; the bull man was clutching the stump of what used to be its left hand.

Naruto saw its eyes focus on him; it would be taking him seriously now, no more holding back. The bull man rushed forward, Naruto jumped to the side he didn't even try for a counter attack, the bull no longer had any openings. Well this royally sucked, Naruto charged forward, Shusui cut out, a small knick appeared on the back of the bull man's arm, the bull spun, arm out, Naruto couldn't move fast enough. The bull's left arm smashed into his body and Naruto became weightless, flying backwards like a puppet with its strings cut. His entire body was in pain, he had broken two ribs, Naruto screamed when he hit a tree, make that four ribs. His left arm was broken and he had one hell of a concussion, the blond stood, blood dripping from his mouth. The blond's eyes refocused, he had been launched at least twenty meters. He could swear the bastard was smiling at him, though that might have just been the blunt force trauma talking.

Naruto shook his head, trying to clear the cobwebs. It didn't really do much, he could hear screaming coming from somewhere but had no idea where from, the bull man charged. The horns came closer and Naruto did what he considered to be the dumbest choice he had made in his relatively short life, he jumped. Landing lightly on the beasts head, Shusui cut out as Naruto jumped off again leaving a gaping gash in the bull's spine. He landed and ran, he would have to hold out until Percy got back, the minotaur charged again, but it wasn't at him, Naruto looked to the right, it was at Sally. "MOVE!" Naruto screamed, the brown haired woman jumped to the left, but the bull man was expecting it this time, he twisted and caught her with his right hand.

The woman struggled for a few seconds before looking at the hill above Naruto, the Minotaur squeezed and Sally vanished, god dust spiralling through the air like fireflies. Naruto felt rage well up inside him, the pain was numbed by it and he ran forward, the bull seemed to smile. His right arm reached out to grab, Naruto slipped around it, his eyes showed something else now, surprise and a hint of fear. Shusui cut up, the bull man screamed in pain, his left arm being cleaved off at the shoulder. Naruto twisted Shusui cut out carving a deep furlough into the bull man's chest. Blood spattered his face and Naruto couldn't keep from smiling, its right arm came out, he had no time. The blow hit him like a freight train; Naruto could feel more ribs break, Shusui fell from his limp fingers.

Naruto was flying, over fifty meters back to the crest of the hill and he could half see what was going on around him. There were people there now, he almost blacked out. He could see Percy charge down the hill at the monster, no one followed, maybe it was the first time they had seen someone die? Naruto knew he didn't have long left; he forced his eyes to be more aware so he could watch his friend in his last moments. Percy jumped landing on the bulls head, much like he had, wrapping his legs around its throat and pulling at one of its horns, Naruto saw the horn break off. Even with the rain, he could still see fairly well, which surprised the dying man.

He saw Percy jump off the bull man and back onto the ground, horn still in hand. He raced forward and ducked under the first blow of the bull, and twisted past one of its kicks, Percy came up and stabbed the horn into the bulls side, it responded by kicking him in the chest and sending him flying to land next to Naruto. The blond turned to look at his friend, who would be dying by his side and felt enraged. Then it happened, inside his chest he felt something move, it hammered inside him, like the heartbeat of a vengeful god. His blood felt like it had been replaced by magma, it slipped through his veins, the very essence of fire. Focus returned to his eyes, the world was frozen, that's not a metaphor. The power inside of the air was literally frozen.

He drew it in, the power all around him; no one else could move, no one else could even breathe. The only person permitted to do either of those things in this place was Naruto Uzumaki. The blonds for became wreathed in black flame and he forced himself to his feet, his right hand came out. Shusui was pulled out of the ground next to the monster and flew back to his hand. Flame coated the blade, fire as black as midnight. No one could move, it was strange, like a pressure had come crashing down on top of them, it felt, it felt like their bodies were being turned into ash.

Naruto took a single look at the monster, sixty meters. The blond appeared to vanish, landing next to the Minotaur in the next instant. One second, to cross that distance, that was all it took, one second. Shusui cut up flame following the blade, cutting clean through the bull's right arm at the shoulder; Naruto twisted behind the monster, Shushi cut out again, severing the tendons in the bull man's legs. The monster collapsed head down, almost as if it was apologising for something. Naruto completed his circuit, standing in front of the monster again; the rain could be heard sizzling around them as the heat of the black flames forced it to evaporate. The Minotaur looked up at Naruto. He was almost surprised to see tears in its eyes.

Shusui came over his head, ready to split his opponents. The Minotaur looked at him its mouth opened. "P-p-plea-please mer-mercy." The words were horribly distorted but Naruto knew what it meant.

He looked at the monster for another second, Shusui still above his head. "Burn" the monster screamed as Shusui came down, black fire roared into the air clearing the rain from its heat alone. A pillar of flame as high as the sky and black as midnight rose into the air, Naruto took one last look at the place the Minotaur was, now all that was left was a charred and smoking crater, with a thought Naruto banished the flames and fell forward. Before he passed out was he could swear he heard Mr Brunner's voice. Not that it mattered, after all he wouldn't be waking back up. The blackened crater rushed up to meet him; Naruto never felt his body hit the floor.

**Illuminating Heaven Chapter three End.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Illuminating Heaven: The Lightning Thief**

**Chapter Four: Camp, Why The Hell Am I Going To Camp?**

Author's Note-

First chapter at camp half-blood, hooray and so on.

Okay questions,

First, should Naruto be able to interact with Thalia while she is still in her tree, via joined mindscape through contact.

Second, should I give Naruto an Olympian grandparent or great grandparent and if so who?

Three, where should he stay when it is revealed that Amaterasu is his mother.

Also Naruto's personally when he fights is a lot colder than his normal one, I based it off Dracule Mihawk from One Piece, also stole a line of his dialogue in this chapter.

Enjoy and thank Zimbolical for the BETA!

**Story Start-**

Naruto knew he'd been slipping in and out of consciousness for the last day. His dreams had been weird as well, he dreamed of his mother, occasionally she would be fighting, other times sitting on a throne, her hair constantly changing from red to black, flames as pitch black as midnight dancing around her, she was waiting, always waiting, but for what? Flames danced at the corners of his vision, black as midnight and unquenchable, truly flames fit for a god, or a goddess. He remembered being spoon fed, to him it tasted like ramen, apparently his mother had loved the stuff.

At least according to Miss Marvell she did, when Naruto tried it he found an almost instant addiction to the wonderful noodles and broth. Occasionally he would catch glimpses of people around him, a girl with curly blond hair, another girl with black hair and blue eyes, Grover and most oddly of all Mr Brunner. The blond had already worked out that he wasn't dead, or if he was God had a sick sense of humour. He groaned, Naruto could feel himself waking, that was probably a good thing, he wanted to find out what the hell was happening.

He groaned again, fuck his mouth hurt for some reason, actually he took that back, his entire body hurt. Not that it should have surprised the blond, inhumane healing factor or not the fact of the matter was that he had just had most if his rib cage broken along with his left arm. Naruto had never had injuries that extensive before but if his normal healing factor held true he should be good in around three days. The blond forced his blue eyes open, and groaned, "damn you sun, my mortal foe" he rasped. Naruto actually liked the sun but when he woke up with it pouring liberal amounts of its light into his eyes he hated it with a passion. Naruto pushed himself into a sitting position and looked around, it was a small room. Two cots, a small room, single door, a few windows. "Take it easy!" the yell came from next to him, the groggy blond turned.

Sitting there was the curly haired blond, grey eyes he noted. Now when one wakes up in a strange place the question asked is normally one of two, either the ever classic 'where am I' or the equally well known 'what happened', Naruto's question was neither of these. "Where is my sword?" The blond croaked out "where is Shusui?" Yes Naruto Uzumaki's first thought in the morning is always where his weapon is, no exceptions. Though he did seem to forget that he could simply call the blade to him, then again he had just woken up.

The girl seemed to think for a moment before shivering "you mean the cursed sword right?" Naruto nodded. "It's being held somewhere safe, we can't risk it hurting anyone." the girl added, Naruto merely held open, purple light and black flame mixed and Shusui was sitting comfortably in his left hand, the girls eyes had gone wide. "WHAT THE HELL!" she shouted, Naruto winced at the volume, before groaning, that hadn't done his ribs any favours.

"Call it a gift" the blond said smiling, well at least his facial muscles were getting easier to move. He stretched, pain flared through his abdomen, no strenuous activity for him. "How is Percy?" Naruto asked the blond girl was still looking at him with some trepidation. But didn't comment on Shusui, that meant she was used to strange occurrence's, how peculiar.

She seemed to find her voice "He should be up sometime today" the girl replied, Naruto realised he didn't know her name.

"Thanks, Naruto Uzumaki, and you are?" The blond replied giving her a wave with his left hand, doing so deliberately so he could find out how healed it was. A flare of pain ran through the arm, three days give or take until it was healed. Not that it was surprising to Naruto he always had a healing factor that was barely inside human. Actually he took that back, healing an almost fully broken rib cage in the next three days was outside of human capabilities.

The blond nodded to him "Annabeth Chase", Naruto nodded. "Not going to ask where you are or what you're doing here?" She asked in a teasing fashion, Naruto shrugged.

"I get the feeling you'll tell me one way or the other" the blond admitted.

The girl, Annabeth Naruto corrected himself mentally, nodded at him. "You're right I probably would." She admitted before handing him a glass filled with what looked like chilled apple juice. "Drink it" Annabeth told him "it will help you heal faster", Naruto nodded and downed the glass in one go. It tasted like ramen broth, oh dear god how he loved ramen broth. But more importantly were the changes he felt made to his body. It seemed to have healed a more, if that were possible. His arm now felt like the bones were only bruised, not broken, and the same could be said for his rib cage.

"What was that?"

Annabeth smiled, it was a small thing more of a grin really. "That was nectar, we give it to the wounded and it helps them heal faster." Naruto nodded "you're taking all this awfully well." Annabeth told him, Naruto shrugged.

"I like to think that having Shusui around helps" Naruto replied, pointing to the cursed blade. "Though I might still be in shock" he added.

"So do you feel better?" She asked, again Naruto nodded "good I wasn't sure how much more of that we could afford to give you. Can you move?"

"Yeah I can move" Naruto told her.

Annabeth nodded "good, we need to go see Chiron and Mr D. They should be able to explain the situation to you, well better than I could at least."

"Okay then, let's go" Naruto replied standing up, barely holding in a pained groan. "What about Percy? You said he would wake up later today, shouldn't someone be here when that happens?" He asked to which Annabeth nodded.

"Don't worry, I'll have someone take care of him" the girl told him, Naruto nodded, the door to the cabin opened and Grover walked in, before smiling at the sight of his friend finally up and about.

"You're awake!" Grover exclaimed. Naruto smiled back at his curly haired friend. Before grunting when Grover hugged him, almost healed or not he was still tender.

"Grover I need to breathe" Naruto rasped out as the overly excitable satyr put more pressure than he could currently bare on his ribs.

The satyr jumped back, a sheepish smile on his face. Before he saw Shusui and his eyes bulged "how the hell did he get that!?" Grover demanded of Annabeth, who looked at Shusui as if trying to unlock a puzzle.

"I have no idea" Annabeth admitted, still looking at the blade as if it were a puzzle. "But I am going to find out." The blond declared.

Naruto shrugged "good luck with that" he replied. He wouldn't let anybody study Shusui, there was too much of a chance that they might break it. Okay he didn't actually believe that, Shusui's main attribute was the hardness, rigidity and sheer strength of the blade. Not to mention it was quite heavy, honestly the blond was sure he could drop a boulder on the blade and it wouldn't bend at all. It wouldn't either.

Shusui was one of the twenty one best swords ever forged in the elemental nations and as such was unbreakable, not in the same sense as Kubikiribōchō. That could endlessly restore itself with the blood of its victims, but literally unbreakable. There was another far darker aspect of Shusui but that can always be discussed another time. The real reason that Naruto would not let Shusui be examined by others was simple, it was his mother's memento and he simply didn't trust other people with it, as he had told Grover. Naruto would rather part with one of his arms than with Shusui.

Annabeth turned her attention to Grover, "do you want to take him to the big house or should I?" The blond questioned.

"You do it." was the satyr's answer. "Naruto if nothing else is a lot more open to this side of the world. Probably to do with that cursed sword and that weird gate thingy. Not only that but Percy just lost his mother, when he wakes up, he'll need to see a friendly face."

"Weird gate thingy?" Annabeth questioned looking at her fellow blond who shrugged in return.

"I'll tell you later" he assured the young woman, who nodded. "Can you stand on your own or do you need help?" She asked.

"I'll be fine" Naruto assured her, standing. His legs were a mix between numb and pain, moreover they were shaking. That didn't matter, Naruto was confident he could make it wherever they needed to go.

Annabeth noted his legs "are you going to need help?" She asked, Naruto shook his head, he could take it.

"I'll be fine" the blond told his companion, who nodded and walked out of the small room and out onto a patio. Naruto took one look at the scenery when he walked outside and whistled. The camp, he could tell it was a camp, as Annabeth was wearing a bright orange T-shirt with the words 'Camp Half-Blood' scrawled across it. If he had to stay here, and he suspected he did, he was not wearing that T-shirt, rules be damned. The blond looked down at his own attire, well it was nothing fancy but it was a damned sight better than that. Orange was awesome and all but too much, like an entire T-shirts worth, was over kill.

The blond was currently wearing what he had on when he was sleeping at the cabin in Montauk, dear Kami that seemed like a life time ago. Black pants, white long sleeved shirt and a red jacket, a stylised upside down V in yellow on the left shoulder and a spiral symbol on the right, his belt was orange with a black buckle and a slight kink in it to allow him to carry Shusui in the way of the samurai. The jacket had come on his birthday, addressed to him, it just turned up on the front door step, he had no idea who sent it, same with the belt, but he felt grateful to them all the same. He was still bare foot, not having time to put anything on when they left the cabin, the blond was doubly glad he had thrown that stuff into the gate now, he would need some shoes later.

At any rate the camp was a sprawling affair, nestled in a valley. The wind smelled like strawberries, green hills in the distance. Groves of trees, a winding stream, rather large, making him think that there was probably a river nearby. Acres of strawberries spread out under the azure sky. The valley was surrounded by rolling hills, the one directly in front of him holding a gigantic pine tree. The whole place seemed to glitter in the sun light, Naruto took it all in, it really was quite breath taking. Annabeth led him around the patio. Naruto couldn't help but whistle again.

They must have been on the north shore of Long Island, this side of the house the valley marched all the way to the ocean, which was sparking like glittering diamonds. Naruto's brain short circuited looking out over the camp, he was someone who had been almost raised by a dead woman and more importantly was currently the possessor of a cursed sword that for some reason or another he could summon to him with a thought. Add to that his ability to cause fissures in the air and store things in them, Naruto considered himself to be rather desensitised to the whole supernatural side of the world, he was quickly reviewing that stance.

To start with the landscape was dotted with buildings, for a summer camp that was normal, what was **abnormal** was the fact that it was exclusively ancient Greek architecture, minus the fact they looked brand new. An amphitheatre, arena, open air pavilion, the works, which was only hit one to his sensibilities. It was also the lightest hit.

Some kids shot at targets on an archery range, others were paddling canoes across a lake, some were riding horses, some of which had **FUCKING WINGS**. Naruto's eyes sharpened, turning their customary yellow with a single ring around them, yes defiantly wings, so they were pegasus, pegasus's, pegasi, what was the plural for that anyway? Oh hell he would figure it out later. Still this was all starting to be a little too much for the blond. A tiny part of his mind that was usually reserved for Kenjutsu matches when he had taken near catastrophic damage, even for him, spoke up noting that if satyrs existed then he probably should have expected this. Naruto promptly told the voice to shut up.

Naruto turned his attention to the end of the patio where two men sat playing cards, the first of which looking like an overweight cherub that had aged in a trailer park, all he needed was a mullet. The other was somewhat of a sight for sore eyes, Mr Brunner, if it wasn't for the fact that Naruto was sure that the man was about to make his day even weirder he would have been glad to see him. They were sitting at a small table with refreshments playing, poker, not that it was much of a game with only two people, you always needed three or more for a good poker game.

Annabeth pointed to the trailer park cherub "that's Mr D the camp director, be polite" she told him. Then pointed to Mr Brunner "and that would be Chiron, I believe you already know him." She stated to which Naruto nodded unsurely. Mr Brunner or Chiron as Annabeth called him, why did that name sound so familiar? He looked up and saw him, his eyes glittered with mirth. The kind of mirth he had before the one time when he gave them a pop quiz and made every single multiple choice answer B, that test was the first and only time Naruto had cursed Mr Brunner's existence.

Mr Brunner looked over Annabeth and Naruto "Ah good, now we have four for poker" he said good natured tone. Ah he was in a good mood, Naruto decided that if he absolutely had to kill his way out, unlikely considering they had healed him but you never know, then Mr Brunner would go painlessly. Naruto sat to the right of Mr D, who sighed and looked at him.

"I suppose in must say it, welcome to camp half-blood. Don't expect me to be happy to see you. Ever." The man finished, Naruto nodded to the trailer park cherub.

"Duly noted" the blond replied in a dry tone.

Mr Brunner dealt the cards. Naruto gave them a quick look, royal flush, all hearts. His ridiculously incredible luck strikes again. Too bad it only ever worked in games of chance. It would have been so handy just about anywhere. "You work here Mr Brunner?" Naruto asked while declining to throw out any cards but adding a few chips to the pot, just enough to make it look like a bluff.

"Call me Chiron here Naruto. Mr Brunner is just a pseudonym I use on occasion." His former Latin teacher told Naruto, throwing out two cards and adding a few chips to the pot.

Naruto nodded and turned to Mr D "I am going to make the assumption that your name, Mr D, stands for something." His hand came up "don't tell me I don't know and frankly I don't care" Naruto said before turning back to his cards as he watched Annabeth place in some chips, while looking at Mr D with something akin to fear.

The black haired trailer cherub looked at him for a second before shrugging "you know Chiron" he said conversationally. "I think I might actually like this one" he said before throwing some more chips in.

Chiron nodded "I'm glad to see you alive Naruto, it has been a long time since I made a house call so I am very glad to see both you and Percy alive. Speaking of Percy when should he wake up?" Chiron asked.

"Sometime today" Annabeth replied, discarding one card before adding more to the pot.

"I take it the house call was coming to see Percy and me at Yancy?" Naruto inquired, throwing some more chips in 'will someone fold already?' he thought annoyed.

"Indeed, while we have satyrs like Grover at almost every school in the country and some beyond I felt you and Percy needed a personal touch." The former Latin teacher replied throwing another chip into the pot "call."

Mr D looked frustrated for a second "fold" he growled out, throwing away his cards and leaving only Chiron, Annabeth and Naruto in the game.

"So to ask the cliché question, where am I?" He inquired, Annabeth called and threw another few chips into the pot and Naruto mimicked her action.

"Considering what you've seen our usual orientation film won't be sufficient" Chiron mused. "Call" he added, Annabeth folded. "Well as you know you're friend Grover is a satyr, you killed the Minotaur, no small feat that either. What you either don't know, or are hiding very well if you do, is that Gods- the Greek Gods to be specific, are very much alive." Naruto just blinked, that settled it either this was a very, very, disturbing dream or Zeus actually existed and as such Naruto could prank his ass like a motherfucker. "You're taking this awfully well" Chiron told him.

Naruto held up Shusui "cursed" he said simply, Annabeth turned to him a small frown on her face.

"Why do I get the feeling that is going to become your default excuse when people question you?" She asked which Naruto shrugged in reply.

"How did you get that anyway?" Chiron asked "last I knew it was safely inside the big house."

Naruto smiled "there is no way for you or anyone else to keep Shusui from my side" he stated with confidence.

Mr D chuckled "I'll bet" the man said smiling "I haven't seen a sword that heavily enchanted or cursed in a long time."

"Moreover when you speak of Gods are you speaking in the metaphysical or the literal sense?" Naruto questioned, before sighing. He laid his cards down, royal flush, Chiron cursed as Naruto dragged the pot over to rest near his other chips.

"We shan't deal with the metaphysical" Chiron stated as Mr D dealed another round, Naruto picked up his cards, straight, ace high. "Capital G God is a debatable existence and not the topic of this conversation" Chiron told him as he picked up his cards. Must have been a bad hand too as the brown haired man frowned at them. "The Greek Gods, the Gods of Olympus, beings that control the forces of nature and human endeavours are an altogether smaller matter." Chiron told him, Naruto shrugged, personally he felt considering the time they had been around if they were real. After everything he had seen recently Naruto was willing to believe that they were. Then the Gods of Olympus were probably just as large a subject as was the, admittedly, debatable existence of a metaphysical creator God.

"So effectively what you are telling me is that Gods such as Zeus, Hera, Hestia, Apollo and such, they not only exist but also take an active part in human affairs?"

Chiron nodded "Indeed, again you are taking this very well" Naruto just held up Shusui and added some more chips to the pot. Chiron nodded, he got the feeling Annabeth had hit the nail on the head when she declared the sword his default excuse.

Naruto gave a short chuckle "I have no use for Gods" he admitted. "My family, my mother, my father both died before I could even remember them, Gods that couldn't even save a small family, I have no use for Gods like that." The blond finished, Annabeth whacked him over the back of the head.

"Show some respect" She hissed, Naruto's eyes turned yellow and the girl flinched. It was just like before, only not as intense, this feeling like her body was being turned into ash and those yellow eyes holding her gaze just like a wolfs would hold its preys.

She heard the sound of a sword being bared "or what?" Naruto questioned lowly, he was telling the truth when he said he had no use for Gods.

"ENOUGH!" Chiron's voice cut through the tension, Naruto's yellow eyes returning to blue, the pressure letting up. "Naruto, I do not know about you past but I will tell you one thing, one of your parents is alive." Chiron stated which caused Naruto's eyes turned yellow again, an ominous rattle coming from Shusui's scabbard.

"Explain" it was a single word but it contained the weight of something far greater. Chiron knew that if he did not this conversation would turn to bloodshed.

"This camp is a camp for demigods. We train you because the monsters will eventually come for you. In order for you to have crossed that border you needed to be a demigod. Which would mean that one of your parents is an Olympian, one of them is still alive." Chiron took a breath "before you ask I doubt they abandoned you, the godly parent is not allowed to raise mortal offspring, because it causes too many problems in the long run. But that sword, it can cut down monsters and you know how to use it, I am willing to bet you parent has been watching over you." He finished, Naruto's eyes flashed to yellow before he sighed and Shusui stopped shaking inside its scabbard.

"Do you have any idea which one" Naruto asked "my mother or my father?" He questioned, Chiron looked him up and down.

"Which parent left you that sword?" He asked.

"It's my mother's memento"

"Then I would wager your mother" the brown haired man replied, Naruto nodded.

"Straight" Naruto said laying down his cards, the other three cursed as Naruto pulled the chips towards him. He looked up at the brown haired Latin teacher "who are you Chiron?", he asked "and who, who am I?" his voice was a whisper.

The man smiled "that is a question I feel we all look for but never really find an answer" he admitted. "Annabeth could you please give Naruto the tour, I will wait her for Percy, oh by the way Naruto have you figured out who I am yet."

The blond smiled "Chiron, centaur, trainer of heroes, immortal." He walked away, Annabeth leading. Leaving behind a smiling Latin teacher.

"I can't believe he actually remembered."

**XXX**

Annabeth led him through the camp sight, he occasionally saw people look at him and whisper _"it's him"_, they really needed to work on their ability to keep their voices down. Then again maybe it wasn't their fault, heightened senses and all that. Some of them were studying him from a distance, Naruto wondered briefly if threatening them with Shusui would make them stop before discarding the idea, no need to make enemies on the first day. He would have plenty of time to do that later. They did a quick, a very quick, tour of the strawberry fields where campers were picking bushels of berries while some satyr's played the reed pipes. Apparently Mr D made them grow faster, that and the satyr's helped. The berries were then exported to various places in New York, mostly restaurants and Olympus.

The forest was apparently stocked and loaded with monsters, Annabeth told him to go in armed. Naruto just gestured to Shusui, causing the girl to slap her forehead as if she had just forgotten the most obvious thing in the world, which from Naruto's perspective she had. They actually spent quite a bit of time in the forest, talking about the kind of monsters inside and the best ways of hunting them, various strategies' that had been devised. Naruto asked to look over them, he wanted to see if he could improve on them, plus any knowledge was welcome before facing a foe.

"Capture the flag is every Friday night" Annabeth told him as they walked towards the archery range.

"Capture the flag?" Naruto asked to which his fellow blond nodded.

"Yes, it's an inter cabin challenge. The cabins will all ally with those they agree with, or the side that offers them the most, and compete in a capture the flag game. No killing or maiming but we do fight with real weapons so there is the chance you could die, even if it doesn't happen often." Annabeth finished, Naruto's eyes flashed a golden yellow quickly. Annabeth corrected herself mentally, him killed or maimed? No Naruto would be just fine.

"I didn't ask but what cabin are you?" Naruto questioned.

"Athena, goddess of wisdom and battle." Came Annabeth's curt reply, Naruto nodded and let the matter drop, he didn't know her well enough to ask anything else.

The mess hall was a large open air affair, Naruto had just one question. "What happens when it rains?"

Annabeth shrugged "normally that doesn't happen, Mr D can control the weather inside the barrier. But the last time he allowed it to rain the wood nymphs put up a barrier around the pavilion to keep us all dry." Naruto nodded at her statement, magic, okay made sense, maybe Chiron was right, he was taking this a bit too well. Shock perhaps?

Finally came the cabins, they were arranged in a U shape, twelve total. Each cabin was completely different, not that Naruto cared really, except about the one that glowed like the sun. That thing needed to be torn down, he had no doubt it was seriously going to cut in on his sleeping time, which was not good. A small girl tended a large fire pit, she looked about nine, Shusui rattled, no definitely older, Shusui rattled again, immortal? Shusui rattled, immortal. The girl smiled at him 'See you soon' she mouthed before disappearing. Naruto cocked his head to the side in confusion, that was a first.

The Ares cabin looked like it was filled with jerks, Shusui rattled and Naruto promised the sword it could fight them to calm it down. At least Shusui was easy to handle like that, just promise it that it could fight a decent opponent and bam, sword happy. They walked over to a rather large cabin with a symbol of a caduceus over it. It looked the most normal of the twelve cabins. Hermes if he remembered correctly, that was Hermes symbol. The blond gained a smile when he saw Chiron leading Percy over to the cabin.

"Yo! Percy!" Naruto called out, causing the black haired boy to look over at him. Before smiling and waving.

"Naruto!" The boy yelled running over. "Can you believe this, I still can't believe what's going on and that my mom's..." He trailed off, Naruto put his hand on his friends shoulder and squeezed, Percy smiled at the contact.

Chiron trotted over, a small smile in place, his coat gleaming. Man was a fine looking centaur, "ah Annabeth, I was hoping I would run into you. I have a master's archery class that started a few minutes ago, could you please introduce these two to the Hermes cabin?" Annabeth gave an okay and Chiron nodded to her gratefully "thank you. I will see you tonight for dinner boys" Chiron told them trotting off in the direction of the archery field.

Annabeth jerked her thumb towards the cabin, "well time to meet your cabin mates" the blond told them pushing them towards the door.

Inside of the cabin was crowded, bunk beds upon bunk beds, with sleeping bags all over the floor, it reminded Naruto of an overcrowded orphanage. The blond flinched at the thought, speaking of the orphanage what the hell was he supposed to do about that? He'd have to bring that up with Chiron later. The entirety of the cabin was staring at them, Naruto knew the routine and he had seen enough new orphans introduced. Annabeth stepped forward "Percy Jackson, Naruto Uzumaki, meet cabin eleven." She told them, for some reason she had a smug smile, Naruto suspected it was because she knew they would be sleeping on the floor.

"Regular or undetermined?" One of the campers asked, Naruto looked at Percy for a second who shook his head.

"Undetermined" the blond replied. His voice a little shaky, he still couldn't believe that one of his parents, most likely his mother, was still alive. She obviously cared for him, considering she gave him Shusui and instructions for training but he still wanted to know who she really was. Did she watch over him after that? Did so do those things out of a sense of duty or out of love?

The cabin groaned as one, a cabin member walked forward, he looked about nineteen, short cropped sandy hair, tall, muscular, Shusui rattled slightly, he was strong and Shusui wanted to fight him. Naruto didn't respond to the sword, he had already promised to fight someone from the Ares cabin. It was not getting two of those promises out of him on one day. "Now, now, camper's" he chided "that's not what where here for. Welcome Percy and Naruto, you guys get the floor" he finished. Naruto swore he could hear Annabeth chuckling quietly from behind him, not that it mattered he had slept in worse places on occasion.

"This is Luke" Annabeth said Naruto turned slightly and smiled when he saw the blush on her face, a blush that was only just disappearing when Percy turned around. "He will be your councillor for now." The blond informed them, Naruto nodded to the man, taking in the long white scar on the side of his face, looked like a knife wound.

"For now?" Percy questioned, Annabeth nodded.

"You're undetermined" Annabeth told him, 'seems like Athena's daughters are good at giving lectures' Naruto mused. "They don't know who's sons either of you are and as such you'll be staying here until your parents claim you."

Luke took up the roll of designated speaker. "Cabin eleven takes in all travellers and newcomers. Hermes is the patron God of travellers after all." The sandy haired man finished brightly.

Naruto nodded before turning around and walking out of the cabin "Where are you going!?" Came Percy's yell, Naruto just laughed as Shusui rattled in its scabbared.

"To pick a fight" Naruto yelled over his shoulder.

Annabeth turned to Percy "he is joking right?" The blood that had just drained from Percy's face was answer enough for the blond who ran after her slightly older counterpart, Percy following behind, Naruto was making for the sword pit.

**XXX**

It didn't take him long to arrive, the 'pit', as it were. Was a rather large open field with several sandy rings inside, presumably to be used in matches, better yet the Ares cabin was using it, Shusui hummed with excitement. The blade was itching for a fight and Naruto was quite content to give it one. One of the Ares kids noticed him and smiled cruelly, Naruto held in a chuckle. They were all fine swordsmen. That was for sure, but they lacked subtlety and a sword without subtlety is merely an iron bar. "Oi boy's we got a newbie" the ugly one that caught his eye yelled, Naruto couldn't help but smile, this was going to be better than he expected.

The teen that had yelled walked up to him. Smile still in place, two cronies flanking him. "So new blood what brings you here?" He asked too smoothly, he wouldn't be letting Naruto leave without a fight, he could tell that from his demeanour. Good thing the blond wanted a fight. He wondered where Percy and Annabeth were. They were following him when he left the cabin after all.

Naruto smiled back at the Ares child "oh I just saw some monkeys pretending to be swordsmen and thought I better put them down for the sake of the world. You know, just because a monkey using a sword is an embarrassment and an insult to any true swordsman." The blond told him smoothly, causing the boy to growl deep in his throat. While his cronies looked at the blond with rage and contempt, the other Ares cabin members stopped what they were doing to glare at the blond. There were eight in total, Naruto wasn't sure if that was because Ares was able to keep it in his pants or there were more somewhere else. Naruto was betting on the latter option of the two, God of war and keeping it in his pants just didn't seem to go together.

"Is that so would you like to back up your statement?" The Ares kid asked, Naruto bared Shusui a little from its scabbard.

"Bring it on monkey" the blond taunted, the Ares child walked into the centre of one of the rings and gestured with a straight two edged sword.

Naruto leapt into the ring and hit the ground running, Shusui flashed out of its sheath at the Ares eyes, he leaned back, gaining a small cut on his forehead. His own blade came down. Naruto met it with Shusui's unsharpened flank and forced it off on another angle. Shusui cut up on a forty five angle, his opponent's blade came down on the same angle.

Sparks erupted at the point of impact, Naruto twisted and used the force of the impact to spin, Shusui coming out, razor sharp edge aimed at the back of his opponents knee, a crippling blow. The boy stepped backwards, his own sword flickering out, a tongue of bronze flame in the afternoon sun. Naruto leaned back, the blade passed him by a hair's breadth, Shusui flickered in the sun and carved a furrow into the boy's forehead, the two separated, he was better than he had been giving them credit for Naruto admitted grudgingly.

"Nice shot" the Ares cabin boy told him, Naruto shrugged.

"Not really" he admitted. "I was aiming to cut out your eyes." The blue eyes closed, before snapping back open, but now with a brilliant yellow shade. Naruto charged, Shusui came down in an overhead slash trying to split the boy's skull. His own sword was raised to meet it, but Naruto could see it, he was unsteady. His grip slightly weaker now, he added more force to the slash as it came down, sparks flew from the impact point. Shusui knocked the blade out of its way and carved a slash into the boy's chest, it wasn't deep, maybe half a centimetre, but it went from his right shoulder to mid abdomen.

The boy came in with a counter slash, his movements made sloppy by pain and fear. His eyes met the brilliant yellow orbs for a second and he froze, it was only an instant but that was all Naruto needed. "Your sword lacks subtlety" the blond told him, as Shusui smacked the celestial bronze sword down. Resting on top of it before being launched at the boy's chest, it landed solidly carving a deep wound in his chest, from left to right shoulder in a fully unbroken line. "And a sword without subtlety is merely an iron bar." The blond finished, Shusui twisted and Naruto sent the flat of the blade to impact on his opponent's skull. Not even bothering to so much as look at his downed opponent as he recited the words of his sensei.

Naruto sheathed Shusui and walked away, the boy had been the best swordsman of the bunch, no need to fight the weak ones after fighting the only half passable one. The blond walked away "WAIT!" came the yell from below, he turned the boy he struck was out cold, another member of the Ares cabin was addressing him.

"Yes?" The one word conveyed how much he wanted the conversation to end.

"I know your one of the guys that came in a couple of nights back, but who are you." The boy who asked was struck silent as the yellow orbs were turned on him, freezing him in place in much the same was as wolfs did its prey.

"Naruto Uzumaki" the reply was simple, Naruto turned to walk off.

"The guy you fought his names-" Naruto chose to cut him off.

"I don't care" he stated "I don't remember the name of every worm I crush." Was the reply Naruto turned and walked back into the main area of the camp. An explosion, or at least it sounded like one, Naruto was instantly dashing to it, he hoped Percy wasn't involved but knowing the black haired boys luck he probably was.

When he got to the epicentre of the explosion, Percy was there, completely bone dry. Which was surprising considering that all around him was water, hell even Annabeth was soaked. As were three Ares cabin campers that, Naruto assumed, started whatever altercation caused this. Annabeth was looking at Percy in shock while the three Ares campers were looking at him in rage, as was the big one, who ironically enough was a girl.

Well it was ironic when one considered that the two boys around her would have to be considered the 'small ones' by comparison. Percy made some kind of smart ass remark to the girl who needed to be held back by her companions lest she commit first degree murder on Percy. Well at least she would attempt to commit first degree murder, attempt being the keyword, as the moment she tried Shusui would disarm her, and when Naruto talked about disarming someone he generally didn't mean their weapon, it was the reason that he thought the word dislegging was a perfectly viable counterpart to disarming.

Naruto strolled up to Annabeth, "wanna fill me in?" he asked.

"Short version or long version?"

"Short"

"Percy pissed off an Ares cabin member by the name of Clarisse, this is the result" Naruto nodded and looked at Percy.

"Nice" he said to his friend, giving an approving nod to him.

"Naruto" Percy started "did you really go and pick a fight with someone?" he asked, almost afraid of the answer.

"Indeed" the blond replied.

Percy sighed "who?"

"Nobody special." Naruto said cheerfully. "Just the entirety of the Ares cabin."

"Oh that's" Annabeth started before the words processed "YOU WHAT! ARE YOU OUT OF YOU GODDAMNED MIND!?"

Naruto shrugged "that is the popular opinion yes. But if we are going by technicalities then no, I am only out of my mind or insane according to nine out of ten psychiatrists." The blond replied in a jovial manner, Shusui rattled in its sheath, Naruto looked down. "It was fun wasn't it." he said to the sword who emitted what Percy could only call a happy rattle in return.

"Did you just talk to your sword?" Annabeth asked, Naruto looked at Percy who nodded, they both turned to Annabeth.

"Cursed" they said at the same time, causing the blond haired girl to sigh, that really was his default excuse wasn't it.

"So what are you thinking?" Percy inquired, a small smile tugging at his lips from her reaction.

Annabeth looked at them "I think that I want **bot****h** you crazy bastards on my team for capture the flag." Naruto and Percy just grinned.

**XXX**

Annabeth continued giving them a little tour, places like the metal shop, where you could learn forging. Naruto's eyes lit up at that, he had always wanted to try out Nitoryu(two sword style) but never found an appropriate companion blade for Shusui, maybe he could forge one for himself with enough training, besides he could always use some throwing knives. The arts and crafts room, the climbing wall, dear Kami Naruto both wanted to use the climbing wall and at the same run away from it screaming like a little girl.

It consisted of two walls facing each other, which dropped boulders, lava and even clashed together at times if you didn't make it to the top fast enough. It sounded like an adrenaline rush to Naruto, as well as a fast way of getting himself killed. "Okay dinner starts at seven thirty. "I've got training now so follow your cabin mates to the mess hall." She went to walk off.

"Annabeth I'm sorry about the toilets" Percy shouted, she looked at him sceptically, "I really am" Percy repeated, the girl nodded with a long drawn out sigh.

"Fine, just don't do it again."She told him "you need to speak to the oracle. I'll clear it with Chiron." Annabeth assured him.

Naruto looked at the lake "well you don't see that every day" he muttered. Sitting at the bottom of the lake was a pair of girls. They waved up at him. Naruto waved back, Annabeth gave an exasperated sigh.

"Please don't encourage them, the Naiads are terrible flirts."

Percy shook his head "Naiads" he repeated. "Okay that is more than enough weirdness for one day. I want to go home now."

Naruto placed a hand on his friends shoulder "sorry Percy but I don't think we can leave any more." The blond told him, a wistful smile on his face, as if he was not looking at Percy but rather through him at something far away.

"What do you mean" Percy asked his blond friend, fearing the answer he could be given.

"What he means is that you _are_ home Percy" Annabeth told him, her tone was softer than before as if she didn't want to break his illusion that he could return home, just yet anyway. "This is the safest place on Earth for people like us."

"What, the mentally disturbed kids?" Percy replied sarcastically, it seemed his day was catching up with him.

"No people who are not entirely human, people who are only half human." Annabeth stated.

"Well then what could the other half be?" Percy shot back, his tone sarcastic.

"God" Naruto replied for Annabeth "this is a place for people who are half-human and half-god." He sighed in a tired manner. "Your dad is not dead Percy he is alive and if everything we have been told is true then he is one of the Olympians."

Percy looked at his blond friend "Just how are you taking this so well?" He asked, Naruto's face seemed to age ten years in an instant.

"Because I have hope" he answered, the wistful smile coming to his face again.

"Hope for what?"

"Percy I never knew either of my parents, I always wanted to meet them and if what I have been told is true then one of them, most likely my mother, is still alive. I have hope because I might finally be able to answer a few questions about myself." The blond finished, his face still looked aged, Percy looked as if he regretted bringing up the subject, he squeezed his friends shoulder and Naruto straightened up.

"This is crazy" Percy muttered.

"Is it?" Annabeth asked him. "Is it really? What did the Gods do in the old tales, they went around falling in love with mortals and having children with them, do you really think they changed their habits in the last two thousand years?" Annabeth half told half questioned Percy.

"So if we're all half-bloods"

"Demigods" Annabeth interrupted Percy.

"Sorry, if everyone here is a demigod then who is your father?" He asked, an ominous chill filled the air, Naruto felt his fight or flight reflex kick in. The real question was if he could get Percy away as well.

"My father is a professor at West Point." Annabeth told Percy, the lack of emotion in her tone put Naruto on edge, he felt Shusui make itself easier to draw, just in case their new friend turned hostile. "I have not seen him since I was small, he teaches American history."

"Hmm so he's human" Naruto mused.

"So you think only male Gods find humans attractive? How sexist is that?" Annabeth lashed out at him, Naruto held up his hands in a calming gesture.

"In the old tales as you put it, I don't remember even one instance of a female God falling for a male human" Naruto told her "I think my surprise is justified."

Annabeth relented. "Who is your mom then?" Percy asked.

"Cabin six" she replied curtly.

"Athena Goddess of wisdom and battle" Naruto supplied for the still slightly confused black haired teen.

They talked for a little longer, mostly about who Percy's dad could be, then they came to a subject that Naruto found, uncomfortable to say the least, and it worried him, a lot.

"You mean sometimes people aren't claimed?" Percy asked, it felt like ice had been injected into Naruto's veins. He didn't speak. He just waited for Annabeth to answer.

"The gods are busy" she said "sometimes they don't...Well sometimes they simply don't care about their offspring, so they ignore them." The feeling of ice intensified, on one hand Naruto knew that his parents, or at least his mother, cared. They had arranged for him to be well cared for, given a weapon and training on how to use it against monsters, as well as a bank account loaded with enough money that when he turned eighteen he could probably own his own home and still have money left over. But there was a nagging feeling in the back of his head that was trying to tell him that, it was all his still living parent was going to do for him, they did it out of duty and they never wanted him. He tried to drown out the voice, he had limited success.

"So we're stuck here?" Percy asked, Naruto still couldn't find his voice.

"Depends, if you're a child of either Aphrodite or Demeter then you can more than likely get away just some summer training and live outside the rest of the time. But if you're strong enough then you'll be a year rounder." Annabeth explained, Naruto still hadn't found his voice. "Monsters can't get inside the barrier, unless they're let in, so it's a safe place for us. Whereas outside in the mortal world they will seek you to challenge you, and they will most likely kill you."

"Why would someone want to summon a monster?" Naruto asked his voice far more steady than he felt it had a right to be.

"Practical jokes, fights, you name it, there are more reasons than I can list" Annabeth told him.

"You're a year rounder?" Naruto asked to which Annabeth nodded.

"Yes" It was a curt reply he didn't dig any deeper and gave Percy a discreet sign to not ask any more.

"So I could walk out of here right now if I wanted to?" Percy asked.

Annabeth shrugged "sure if you have a death wish." Annabeth told him on no uncertain terms.

"When I woke up you were asking me about something, the summer solstice." Percy told her, Annabeth tensed.

"You know something?" She asked, sounding exited.

"No back at Yancy I overheard Grover and Chiron talking about something, and about the solstice, I was actually hoping you could shed some more light on that" Percy admitted.

Annabeth sighed "I don't know anything for sure, but it has to do with Olympus. It must be major too, the only thing I don't understand is that the last time I was there it was so normal."

"You've been there?" Naruto inquired, Annabeth looked at him like he was a moron.

"Sure some of the year rounders went, Luke, me, Clarisse, etc. We took a field trip when the winter solstice came around." She clarified.

"But how did you get there" Percy asked.

"The Long Island Railroad, get off at Penn station, Empire State Building, special elevator to the 600th floor. You two are New Yorker's right?" She asked.

Naruto nodded "Indeed we are, but the last time I checked the Empire State Building only had 102 floors."

Annabeth had the decency to look abashed. "When we left the weather got weird as if the Gods were fighting with each other. Best I can figure something was stolen. I was hoping one of you two would know something so we could get it back."

Naruto and Percy shook their heads and Annabeth began to walk down another path Naruto followed after her.

"Where are you going?" Percy asked, Naruto shrugged.

"I have a couple of questions that I need answered" he yelled back.

Percy nodded and headed back to cabin eleven.

**XXX  
**

Naruto rejoined the cabin shortly before they went to dinner, he looked pensive. As if he was debating some internal issue that was eating away at him. The lines they were walking in were by seniority, naturally as new arrivals Naruto and Percy were at the back of the line. They marched up the hall to the pavilion. Satyr's joining them from the meadow on their way up. Some joined from the woods, literally from the woods, as in wood nymphs.

All told there were around one hundred campers, give or take twenty, a few dozen satyrs and about a dozen assorted wood nymphs and Naiads. Each cabin had their own table, needless to say elevens was over crowed. Naruto opted to stand. Grover was sitting with Chiron and Mr D on a table that contained two blond boys that looked a lot like the camp director. Naruto noticed that the kid he'd cut down earlier that day wasn't on the Ares table, hell most of that table seemed not to like him.

Naruto saw the things coming out and lamented the lack of ramen. A wood nymph smiled at him and snapped her fingers causing a large bowl to appear. The blond had to check his initial impulse, said impulse being kissing the nymph and asking her to marry him, he settled for thanking her, to which she smiled and went about her business. The blond put some of the noodles and broth into a slightly smaller bowl and picked up a goblet, he was tempted to ask for something alcoholic but suspected it wouldn't work "green tea" he asked and then amended the order "Japanese green tea." The original continence of the goblet changed to a slightly darker green.

He noticed everyone going to the fire pit in the centre of the pavilion, and walked calmly after them, barely stopping himself from eating the ramen in front of him. Naruto saw them scraping a little bit of each of their foods into the fire, it came to his turn. Naruto guessed it was something to do with the Gods. 'Mother, anyone else up there looking down on me I hope you like this' he added a fair bit of the ramen to the pot. The flames grew slightly taller as if saying thanks, before turning pitch black. Naruto raised an eyebrow as people stared at him, well now that was interesting, that was very interesting.

The actual eating of the food was done loudly, no one tried to touch Naruto's ramen after the first guy ended up at sword point. When the meal was done Chairon stamped his hoof for attention, before pointing to Mr D. "Well I suppose I should welcome you brats, hello. According to Chiron capture the flag is this Friday and cabin five currently holds the laurels." There was cheering from the Ares table.

"We have two new campers Percy Jackson and Something or rather Uzu something. Now go on to your silly camp fire." Naruto shrugged at the lame introduction. Well at least Mr D didn't call him a girl's name or something. Everybody cheered and then went to the amphitheatre, the Apollo cabin led a sing along. They weren't really that bad to be honest. Then they started to sing more songs about the gods and finally they made s'mores, when the conch horn rang again they filed back to their cabins and lights out was called.

Naruto found he couldn't sleep in such a cramped space and walked back outside, looking up at the sky, cabin eight was glowing but at least it wasn't as bad as Apollo's cabin in the day, the blond made his way to the pine tree and lay against it, throwing the sleeping bag over himself Shusui ready to be drawn at a moment's notice, he leaned back into the pine, that was actually quite comfortable, and let sleep take him.

**Illuminating Heaven Chapter 4- End.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Illuminating Heaven: The Lightning Thief**

**Chapter Five: Well Isn't This Mildly Upsetting**

Authors Note-

Okay so Naruto meets Thalia and finds out who his mother is. No he won't meet her just yet that comes later. I made Naruto blessed by Hestia , not related too, think of Hestia as something akin to a God version of his godparent. No direct relation but she does care for him, when Amaterasu can't keep an eye on Naruto it's generally Hestia that does the job. Also as for why I chose Hestia for this when almost everybody else does the same, well that's kind of simple. She is less of an egotistical jerk than the other Gods, that is my reason.

Okay anyone who already read this please disregard the previous authors note. I only Just finished the lightning thief and someone decided to show me what future events transpire in the Percy Jackson books. So in order to make Naruto actually have a chance in hell at keeping up in hand to hand combat and armed combat, like Percy he now has an extremely strong bend towards learning how to wield weapons and combat in general. As for other powers besides Amaterasu flames, I will say this only once, the 'Gate' while it does have the function of a storage room that is not its real use, it is a weapon. Other things he will gain later.

As for why I redid the part about Naruto not having a natural bend towards using weapons, well it was either that or I would have had to do so much rebalancing of power that it would have been unfunny and I just couldn't be bothered with the headache that would inevitably accompany that.

Also if Naruto is seen doing anything badass this chapter then it was probably written while listening to Two Steps From Hell- Temptation Town. What are you waiting for? Go listen to it NOW!

Thank Zimbolical for the BETA, on with the show!

**Story Start-**

Naruto looked around; it was a small dark room. "Well isn't this mildly upsetting" he mused. He was sitting on a recliner, staring into the somewhat disbelieving electric blue eyes of a girl directly across from him. There was ambient music playing all around them, it was actually quite nice, if it wasn't for the whole floating in a sea of inky blackness thing. The blond looked at the girl a little closer, shoulder length black hair, spiky, fairly pale skin, a pair of skull earrings. Black jeans, and shirt, leather jacket, the whole works were pitch black.

"You, you're real" she asked almost disbelieving.

Naruto nodded "last time I checked yes, yes I am." He replied, his normal amount of flippancy in his tone.

"But how did you get here?" She asked to which he shrugged.

"No idea, last thing I remember is falling asleep leaning against a gigantic pine tree and the BAM. Instead of the restful sleep I was thinking I would be getting I'm here." Naruto shot back, the girl seemed unsure.

"Ah you fell asleep against my tree then, so who are you" she asked, tone business like.

"Naruto Uzumaki and its common curtsey to introduce yourself first. Also what do you mean your tree?" The blond told her, the black haired girl shrugged.

"Thalia" she responded, Naruto chose not to comment on her lack of a last name. "As for what I meant about it being my tree, well I am sealed in it, who else's tree was it going to be. I take it you're a half-blood?" It was more of a statement than a question.

Naruto nodded, "that is the general consensus, no idea who my parent is though."

Thalia nodded "so what now?" She asked which caused Naruto shrugged.

"Hell if I know" he admitted. "I'm thinking I'm probably stuck here until I wake up in the real world. That being said want to talk." He asked, Thalia who shrugged, why not.

"Okay then, how long have you been at the camp?" She asked.

"I only woke up inside today but apparently both me and Percy have been out of it since we killed the Minotaur on our way in."

Thalia held up a hand "you killed the Minotaur?" She asked to which Naruto nodded.

"Yeah, the damned thing chased us to the very borders of the camp, killed Percy's mother and then attempted to kill me after I took its left hand off." He clarified, Thalia nodded, her expression a mix between incredulous and what he could only call anger.

"I thought you said you'd only been at camp one day, how the hell did you get your hands on a celestial bronze weapon before then?"

"I don't have a celestial bronze weapon, what I do have is a cursed sword." Naruto told her as his body began to fade away, "hmm I'd say that's time." He mused looking down at his slowly disappearing body, he looked back up at the girl. "If I can figure out how to get back here I'll come and see you again" he told her.

Thalia nodded "might not want to tell anyone about this, they would probably think you were crazy." The last hint of Naruto Uzumaki she saw was of him laughing as his head finally vanished.

**XXX**

The blond's eyes snapped open, and he stretched, the sleeping bag fell off him. Naruto found it slightly strange that he didn't feel cramped or anything from sleeping outside, he rolled up the sleeping bag and jogged back to Hermes cabin.

The days from then on were quite ordinary, if you ignored the fact they were being taught by satyrs, wood nymphs, ect. Naruto found ancient Greek hard to read, not impossible, but he managed to get the hang of it far slower than Percy or anyone else for that matter. This surprised Annabeth as most demigods were able to read ancient Greek with ease. Still it did make for some interesting study, learning about Gods and knowing that they were real, as opposed to believing they were just a myth. He paid special attention to any stories that featured Goddess's. Trying, and failing miserably, to narrow down who his mother could be, Naruto really wasn't having much luck in that department.

He learned some basic archery from Chiron, Naruto would probably be able to master the art, given enough time. But his body was far more geared towards Kenjutsu. But he would still stop by the class every time it was on to hone his ability with a bow to be the finest it could be. The Minotaur had thrown him around like a rag doll. He would not allow that to happen again. Many who had ever seen Naruto fight with a sword would call him arrogant, they would be wrong, Naruto was not arrogant just extremely confident in his own skill.

He had good reason to be after all, Naruto had always had a natural bend towards weaponry. He had tried his hand at archery in the past but really his body was more geared towards Kenjutsu. Sure he could eventually learn the art and probably push it to the same level as his swordsmanship but his body felt more at home holding a blade than any other kind of weapon. Still maybe he should invest some more time in to learning other forms of weaponry, maybe like a spear or something, the extra range would be nice after all.

Still he suspected that his skill with a blade would always be his strongest point. He was no master, but then really not many people really were. When one considers it what passes for a master anyway? Is it a black belt, no most definitely not as black belts have ranks inside themselves as well, so what really could be called a master? Naruto supposed it didn't really matter, he wasn't at that level just yet, he would reach there eventually though, he would stake his life on that.

Naruto and Percy had both tried their hands at foot racing. The wood nymph training them out distanced the both of them by a mile. Naruto kept going back for more though. It was a good way to increase his speed. The blond had humility beaten into him by the Athena cabin as a whole when he joined them for a hand to hand combat class. Pankration was the name of the martial art, a combination of western boxing and wrestling.

It left something to be desired but it was more than a good base, Naruto left that class beaten and bloody after going a couple of sparing rounds after getting overconfident, he checked his ego when it came to hand to hand now. If the old stories were to be believed it was Hercules skill at Pankration that allowed him to defeat the Nemean lion and Theseus apparently used it to kill the Minotaur when he faced it. It was effective, Naruto was reminded of that every time he touched his nose, Annabeth had broken it with a hook. It healed up fine but that wasn't the point, it was the price he had to pay for letting his overconfidence get the better of him.

Naruto did however find a slight skill in metal work, with anything that had to do with creation really. But it was nowhere near the level of Hephaestus's kids. Still he had been invited back whenever he felt like it by Charles 'Charlie' Beckendorf. Who for some reason, everyone just called Beckendorf. He had a few interesting ideas for weapon's, throwing knives, trench knives, katana's scimitar's and such. As well as one, that he had admittedly, ripped off of a movie. A shoulder mounted cannon that fired Greek fire, like the predators used in the move AVP (Aliens VS Predators), Beckendorf liked that idea, a lot. Not that it was surprising, every male he had told the idea to liked it, pyromania, must be a guy thing.

He found that he sucked at canoeing which, oddly enough, turned out to be Percy's strong suit. Along with anything else that involved water, which alone gave Naruto an idea on who his father really was. He suspected that Chiron could see it to, if he just didn't want to say anything or was in denial Naruto wasn't sure. He suspected it was a bit of both really.

Still with everything that Naruto found he could and more importantly couldn't do. It made the question of who his parent was all the more uncertain. Someone suggested Ares, Naruto shot that down, unless Ares was secretly a girl then he was fairly sure he wouldn't have to share a cabin with a bunch of psychos that wanted to kill him. Thank fuck for that.

That all being said Naruto liked the camp, plenty of space to train and plenty of space to just screw around. He had talked to Chiron about the orphanage. The old centaur had put the mist over it. According to the orphanage he was staying with Sally Jackson for an extended duration. It was a weight off Naruto's shoulders when he had been told that, though he never mentioned to Percy that he was using his dead mother as a cover story, which could have gotten messy and fast.

**XXX**

Naruto ambled over to Annabeth, the girl wasn't that bad really. Little bit of an ego problem at times, but nothing Naruto couldn't be accused of himself. "Got a plan?" he asked, he was of course referring to that nights round of capture the flag.

Annabeth looked down at Percy getting the living stuffing beating out of him by Luke, Naruto had a nostalgic smile, it reminded him of the way his sensei treated him. "I do, according to what we know Clarisse will be going for Percy and half the damn Ares cabin wants your head for that stunt you pulled." Naruto nodded, he already knew that.

"So we're bait?" The blond questioned his counterpart.

"You're bait" she confirmed.

"So what are you planning to do with me, am I a stationary or a moving target?" Naruto asked, not at all put out by the declaration that he was bait.

"A solo moving target" Annabeth told him. "Pack light and take some ranged weapons. I want you moving through the woods, take down small sections of enemies but don't get in over your head. Take them down as you find them or make a good distraction and have them chase you, I don't care which." Annabeth told him, Naruto nodded and walked off "wait" came the cry from behind him. "Don't you want to know what everyone else is doing?" She asked to which Naruto cocked his head to the side in thought.

"Will it have an impact on my job?" He asked to which Annabeth shook her head. "Then no" Naruto told her and walked off again, going to scout out the forest for capture the flag. As well as planning out what he would need to take into the forest. He would probably end up setting a lot of traps, who said pranking people didn't come in handy?

**XXX**

Naruto was standing next to Percy as the banner's were brought in, at the moment Hermes cabin, and by extension both of them, were allied with Athena. Meaning he would be fighting against Ares, that was just fine and dandy by him. Shusui might finally shut up about not fighting Luke if he managed to take down enough of them. His hair while still spiky was now black, the dye would wash out, thankfully. He was a blond and it was dark, he would have been spotted easily, black hair made that harder.

Chiron stood up to address the crowd. "You all know the rules!" The centaur yelled over the assembled crowd. "No killing and no maiming, the creek is the boundary line. Defeated opponents may be disarmed but not bound. I will be the referee of the battlefield, ARM YOURSELVES!" Chiron yelled, he stamped his hoof and the tables were instantly covered with weapons and armour. There was everything from swords, to daggers, bows, arrows, wire, ect. Percy was taken aside by Luke and given a breastplate, sword and shield. Before he looked for Naruto, if Percy was geared for battle then Naruto was geared for war.

At 157 cm of lean muscle the blond, well he had black hair now but that was beside the point, was already fairly intimidating for his age. But this took intimidating and cranked it right the way up to eleven, slung over his back was a bow and a quiver of arrows, strapped to his left his was Shusui, Percy could swear the blade was letting out satisfied rattles. His right shoulder sported a leather pauldron, holding five throwing knives. His belt held another seven, while his lower thighs held a hunting knife each. He was dressed in camouflage colours, mottled grey pants and shirt, his shirt covered by leather armour covered in bronze buckles. Naruto had wire spooled at the back of his belt and a grimace on his face, his eyes periodically changing from blue to golden yellow.

He continued to look at the table despite being fully loaded. Percy noted he wasn't wearing any shoes. Naruto stared at the space next to him "open the gate" it was said simply. The air seemed to warp and twist before pulling apart and leaving a golden glow, a pair of boots seemingly floating between the 'gate' and the air, half outside and half inside. The blond snatched them along with a pair of socks, he turned and grabbed another few belts of knives and two extra quivers of arrows and threw them inside and he snapped his fingers, the gate closed. Leaving many people, Chiron included, looking at him with a small amount of confusion and what could only be called awe.

The boots were put on quickly and Naruto flipped out a knife, he carved a strange looking spiral symbol onto the leather armour. The blond stood ready for battle, his eyes now permanently golden, he looked over at the Ares cabin, some of which were glaring at him. He glared right back, causing them to growl. The blond smirked and made the world renowned 'bring it on' gesture with his hands. They growled some more, Naruto went back to looking out at the dark forest with apathy.

He didn't seem to want to speak and Percy didn't approach him, Naruto spent his time looking alternately between Athena and Apollo, their current allies and staring out into the forest, like he was inpatient for it to start. Naruto wasn't too worried about the people he might face, the Ares while fine warriors were prone to anger and an angry opponent wasn't much of an opponent at all. The only people he was even slightly concerned about were the kids from the Hephaestus cabin they were big, they were burly and more importantly unlike the Ares cabin Beckendorf actually used his brain. Not to mention that Naruto actually liked Beckendorf and his siblings and didn't really want to hurt them, the Ares cabin? Not so much.

"BLUE TEAM FORWARD!" Annabeth yelled, Naruto dashed off into the forest ahead of the vanguard forces, eyes focused, Percy prayed his friend would be alright.

**XXX**

The blond ran into the forest, sprinting along a side trail. His job was simple. He was a walking, talking, fighting, but most importantly moving distraction. The blond sprinted forward, he was aiming to hit the lightly defended scouts, make himself a nuisance. Scouts were an integral part of any battle. Take them out your enemies blind, they would have to devote resources to stopping him after he took down two or three scouting parties. He rounded a corner and came face to face with both of Dionysus's kids. You had to feel sorry for those children.

His right arm flipped out and a pair of throwing knives raced through the air, before impaling themselves into the two children's feet. Naruto couldn't help but smile at the screams of pain, and **that** was why he didn't wear sandals into combat. His hunting knives came out of their sheaths as he closed. Both were holding a sword and shield. The first one lashed out with a shield bash at his head, Naruto slipped low, avoiding the blow. Before crossing the hunting knives to stop the bronze sword from splitting his skull.

Naruto couldn't help but smile, if it wasn't for the fact that he knew the people at camp half-blood could heal what he was about to do to the guy Naruto never would have tried it. His left knife slipped over onto the blade of the sword and snapped it down, while his right arm and blade came across the kids arm, severing all the tendons in it, the left knife came up and Naruto smacked him in the nose with the pommel hard enough to knock the kid out cold.

Naruto was already moving the moment he saw his first opponent going down like a sack of potatoes, he spun, allowing the blade that was trying to skewer him from behind to pass by harmlessly. With deceptive ease his left knife came up and cut the tendons in the boys arm, Naruto twisted in, around the shield, his first strike took the helmet on the boys head off and the second slammed the pommel of his right hunting knife into the boy's temple. He collapsed, joining his brother on the ground in blissful unconsciousness, Naruto gathered their weapons and gear and he looked at the air in front of him.

He forced it to bend and distort, to become nothing more than a gateway, he forced it to stretch to thicken to divide and unify all at once. The 'gate' that he opened was less of a place and more of a state of being. From what Naruto could gather it was some kind of a giant storage room that was somehow locked outside of time and space, like a pocket dimension. In order to open the 'gate' he first had to force, in his mind at least, whatever he was looking at to become the metaphysical doors of the gate, then force them to open. The air seemed to groan before splitting apart, a golden glow inside of the space that was around four meters across and four meters high. He threw the equipment inside. He was told he could disarm prisoners nothing about keeping their confiscated possessions on this plain of existence was in the rules at all.

**XXX**

From the heavenly plain Amaterasu watched her child. She smiled as he defeated his foes, though she did grow worried when he fought. Amaterasu had wanted to claim her sochi the moment that he stepped foot in the camp but had restrained herself. She wanted this to be a grand prank, one that she was sure that her child would appreciate. When she revealed herself as his mother she wanted the entire camp to see it at once, just so she could get a laugh out of their expressions, she was sure her Naruto would be amused as well.

The black haired goddess had also spent some time giving Carla Marvell a real citizenship inside the United States as well as an apartment and some other things. When her son went back to the orphanage she would adopt him. Naturally the orphanage would not know that she was his real mother and Amaterasu could only get one day every three months off to visit but every time she did get some time off. She would be able to spend it with her child. It warmed the goddess's heart. At least she would be able to be with him sometimes and Naruto would actually know who she was rather than not know who she was at all. The Goddess turned her attention back to the capture the flag match, so much to do, so little time.

**XXX**

The blond was off and running again, two down, however many were left to go. From what he could fully understand about the Athena cabin's battle plan, he and Percy were the keys to victory. Clarisse would head after Percy, keeping the best of the Ares cabin out of the fight, while the other part of the cabin would likely be out for his blood, not that the blond minded, he might even get a good fight out of it. He shook his head as if trying to clear it of water, okay he was listening to Shusui way too much lately. He pressed himself to a tree and looked around it, two more scouts. About twenty meters away and standing still thank Kami. Naruto unlimbered the bow on his back. He still couldn't hit a moving target, but a stationary one, that shouldn't be a problem. He nocked the arrow and stepped out from behind the tree, brining the bow to full draw. Fletching next to his cheek, he was nowhere near good enough to hit something like their legs from this distance.

The arrow cut through the air and impaled itself in the abdomen of one of the scouts, he went down screaming. Naruto dashed forward, bow thrown aside, his left hand brushed his belt, pulling a pair of throwing knives into his hands. He pitched them forward, the first landing in the kid's foot and the second in his upper thigh. Shusui was brought free from its sheath, the back of the blade slamming into the kid's helmet with enough force to knock him unconscious. He looked down at the other scout, who was still screaming in pain, Naruto grimaced, the arrow looked like it had hit intestine, shit. The blond quickly cut off some of his own shirt to bind the wound until he felt a hand on his shoulder.

He dove forward, coming up into a crouch, Shusui drawn and ready to spill blood. A wood nymph was looking at him like he was a puzzle that she couldn't quite understand.

"Do not worry" she stated, Naruto returned Shusui to its sheath seeing she was not an enemy, the nymph smiled as he did so. "I will heal him. Go on help your friends." She gestured back into the woods. Naruto took another look at the downed boy who had gone from screaming to a pained moaning. "Go" the nymph told him again.

"Make sure he doesn't die" Naruto told her, before running back into the forest to continue the game, the nymph smiled as her hands glowed green.

The blond dashed through the undergrowth, scooping up the thrown aside bow on his way past, before coming to an open clearing, oh this would be perfect. He unspooled the wire on his belt and set about making his trap. It wasn't an extremely complex affair but it was effective. The metal wire he was carrying was a mixture of steel and celestial bronze. The mix was more to save the metal for other things than any other reason but there you have it. The important thing about the wire is that celestial bronze would not be able to pass through it like water, meaning whoever was caught couldn't just cut themselves free, well they could, it would just take awhile.

While Naruto was confident he was not a moron, one on one, hell even two on one, he was pretty sure he could come out on top against anyone from the Ares cabin. Any more than that and he would probably lose, three on one he had maybe a forty percent chance of coming out on top in a straight up fight. Straight up meaning no traps and none of his flames, if he could even figure out how to use those things again, he tried but it was quickly becoming apparent that he was missing something there. At any rate, considering that he was going to try to take four or even five members of the opposing team at once, he was going to need the extra help that the traps would provide.

Naruto sprinted across the well worn dirt trail, leading from his trap, he had the actual trap itself set up, now he just needed his prey, thankfully he was the bait so at least he didn't need to find that. He slowed, he could hear running coming his way, the bow on his back was unlimbered and an arrow nocked, now Naruto knew he wouldn't be able to hit a moving target. On purpose anyway, pure luck however was a completely different matter. He peaked out and smiled two Ares and two of Demeter's kids. "OVER HERE!" he called cheerfully, letting the arrow fly, the first Ares cabin member got his shield up, the arrow careening off in a shower of metal and sparks.

Naruto didn't waste time crying over spilt milk and promptly nocked another arrow. They were thirty meters and charging, the arrow was loosened, the shields came up and another splash of sparks in the night, Naruto nocked another arrow. He took careful aim, twenty metres. The arrow was loosed, taking the helmet off one of the Ares kids. Naruto whistled in approval of his handy work, it had been complete and total luck but damn was it a nice shot. Ten meters, Naruto smiled at the closing members of the opposing cabins.

He chose at that moment to do his best Road Runner impression. "Meep Meep!" he said while jumping in the air and tapping his feet together. Before landing and sprinting in the other direction, throwing away the bow, he didn't need the extra weight. He would have ditched the arrows as well for the same reason but he really didn't want to give them both the weapon and the ammo, which would just be dumb. Thankfully all four of them were in heavy armour so they weren't exactly fast runners, fortunate for Naruto. The blond hit the tree line of his Ambush site, and ploughed through the undergrowth before jumping on a tree and stating to climb, he needed to reach the first major branch.

He pushed himself onto the first branch and smiled as he took the two ends of wire sitting on the branch in front of him. His pursuers caught up, Naruto smiled as they ran towards his tree, screaming battle cries. He gripped the wires and jumped. The wires were pulled taught as Naruto hit the ground, they were immediately pulled off the floor of the forest and up into a tight cage. Criss-crossing around his unfortunate victims, Naruto landed lightly next to his tree and quickly tied the malleable wire into a knot keeping the cage tight. The red team members slashed at the cage of wires around them, they had to be careful though, they may accidentally hit a wire they didn't see and send their swords off at an angle, hitting another team mate. That was why Naruto could win, that was why Naruto would win.

The cage bound them tightly. They had to abandon their spears and shields on top of that while fighting inside the prison of wire they had to be careful not to hit their friends. Naruto didn't have that problem. He could dive inside and cut them apart without the need to worry about that. But he didn't jump straight in. No Naruto scrambled back up his tree and stabbed his throwing knives next to him. He had a total of eight left before he would need to refill from his gate, but that would take too much time, he would have to throw the eight and then go in for melee, they would cut through the cage otherwise.

The sound of something splitting the air was heard before the fours world exploded into pain. Naruto's first knife hit one of the Demeter's children in his thigh. The second took an Ares to the shoulder, the third and fourth took the other in his upper arm. Five and six made their homes in the other Demeter's child's foot. The other two knives didn't hit, bouncing off some of the wire cage around his prey. Naruto pushed off the branch he was standing on, and landed in the centre of the cage. No one ever thought to look up, he had left most of the top open, just for this.

He landed lightly, Shusui already swinging. The surprise attack caught one of the children of Demeter off guard. Slamming into his helmet with enough force to cause a severe concussion and knocking him out cold. Naruto followed this up by sweeping out one of the Ares's arms and slamming his elbow into the teens chin, a knockout blow. Naruto was breathing deeply as he heard shuffling behind him. This was where the real fight started. He turned Shusui held before him, right leg forward. The two remaining were the Ares that took a knife to his shoulder and the Demeter that took a knife to his thigh.

Naruto charged, Shusui cutting out, the Demeter brought his blade up and blocked the strike. Naruto chose to pull a 'dirty' move. It wasn't really dirty, in battle you had to look for every advantage and more importantly you had to take advantage of it when you found it. His left leg kicked out, pushing the throwing knife further into his thigh, the boy screamed in pain. Naruto twisted avoiding a strike at the side of his head. Shusui came up and battered the celestial bronze sword of the Ares cabin member away before leaving him with a nice gash on his arm. But not before Naruto had gotten a slight cut on his cheek from the Ares counter stroke.

They backed away from each other. Naruto moved closing with the Ares. Their blades met in a shower of sparks, the Ares cabin member was physically stronger than Naruto, but the blond held more skill and stamina. He twisted his own blade forcing the Ares cabin member back, Naruto's left foot lashed out in a low kick, slamming into the throwing knife that was still half lodged in the Demeter, who was trying to pull it out. Naruto drove the blade back in to the hilt before jumping over to the boy, Shusui cut out smacking the celestial bronze blade out of the teen's hands. Naruto gripped the top of his plumed helmet and pulled the boy into a vicious knee to the face. The child of Demeter went into the embrace of sleep without any more fuss, and a broken nose for his trouble.

Naruto jumped away from his most recent knock out and a sword split the air where he was just standing. The blond twisted to face the onrushing Ares cabin fighter, it was ended quickly, the teen slashed down, Naruto met it mid way and forced the sword off path before Shusui's unsharpened flank slammed into the teens face, sending him into a blissful state of unconsciousness.

The blond sighed, he was covered with sweat and the cut was probably closer to a gash but nothing that wouldn't heal with time. He pulled back with Shusui and set about cutting his way out of the cage. This was really the only part of his plan that depended on nothing but pure luck. He was stuck inside the cage, if someone was to turn up with a bow right now, yeah not a pretty picture. It took him about five minutes but he managed it, finally he managed to cut his way out and the cage fell apart, it didn't take long from there for him to throw the weapons and everything else his opponents had into the 'gate' after that.

The sound of a conch shell echoed over the forest. Naruto smiled as he sheathed Shusui, he didn't know who one but he suspected it was the blue team. Naruto heard the babbling of a creek and followed it, time to see how his friend was doing. He wondered if Annabeth had actually told him he was bait. A howl ripped through the forest ahead of him, Naruto sprinted forward, whatever that was it did not sound friendly. He burst out onto the scene a gigantic hound had just slashed Percy across the chest and was about to go him again. Naruto's hand went for a throwing knife, none were left, he no longer had his bow, this was bad. The hound seemed to leap at Percy in slow motion, Naruto's mouth opened to scream at him to move, but deep down the blond knew it was already too late. His friend was about to die and there was absolutely nothing he could do about it.

A cluster of arrows entered the hounds neck, dropping it dead directly before Percy. Naruto heaved a sigh of relief, dear sweet Kami that was close. Annabeth looked at the corpse the girl seemed shaken.

"But that's a hell hound! They can only be summoned from the fields of punishment, someone must have summoned it." The blond haired girl stated, Naruto got the feeling she was more stating it for her own sake than anyone else's.

"PERCY, IT MUST HAVE BEEN PERCY WHO SUMMONED IT!" Clarisse yelled, Naruto snorted.

"Keep quiet if you don't have anything constructive to say you dumb bitch." The blond hissed as he came out of the trees.

Clarisse rounded on him "what the hell did you just say?" She demanded, Naruto glared at her, unfounded accusations against his friends were not something he took lightly.

"I called you a dumb bitch because you are. Stop and fucking think for a second, if Percy summoned the hell hound why did it attack him, think before you open that over sized pie hole you call a mouth" Naruto shot back.

Clarisse went to retort "ENOUGH!" Chiron yelled, silencing the next bout of verbal sparring before it began.

"Percy you okay?" Naruto asked walking forward, his friend turned to face him, cuts all over the front of his body. Naruto winced, in retrospect that was a dumb question to ask.

"Naruto?" Percy asked, he sounded a bit out of it "when did you get here?" Definitely out of it.

"About two minutes ago" Naruto replied dryly.

"That's enough, Percy you're hurt, get back in the water." Annabeth demanded.

"If fine" Percy told her in response while his knees shook.

"No you're not" Annabeth replied, before forcing Percy back into the creek. "Chiron look at this" Percy's wounds were healing before everyone's eyes.

Naruto couldn't help but put this down as another point towards Percy's father being Poseidon. Really if you put it together it wasn't that hard to figure out, he was able to force water to push back Clarisse the first time he met her. Excelled at anything related to water and probably most importantly was healed by water, not that Naruto knew that last one until about thirty seconds ago. The campers were staring at a glowing light above Percy's head, Naruto followed their gaze. A three pronged spear, a trident, the symbol of Poseidon.

Naruto whistled looking at the pale face of Annabeth "well I'm guessing this isn't good." He mused, he just hoped it wasn't life threatening. Though knowing Percy's luck it more than likely was, oh boy who was he kidding this was probably going to get the both of them killed. Percy by whatever Poseidon wanted him to do and Naruto by jumping into the fire to pull his friends ass out of it.

"It is decided" Chiron said solemnly, like he was announcing Percy's date of death. It really didn't make Naruto feel any better about his previous morbid thoughts. The campers around Percy kneeled, with the exception of Naruto who just smiled and gave his friend a smile and a thumbs up. The Ares cabin looked like they wanted to kill the black haired boy because they had to kneel to him, amongst other things.

"Your father Perseus Jackson, hail the son of Poseidon. Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father Of Horses. Hail Perseus Jackson, the son of the Sea God." Chiron declared, Naruto clapped for his friend, it didn't look like anybody else would.

The entirety of the camp gave him the evil eye before their mouths dropped open "WHAT THE HELL IS THIS? CLAIM EVERYBODY DAY!?" Someone demanded from the back, Naruto looked up and was immensely puzzled by what he saw. There were two symbols over his head, the first was of an eight sided mirror that glowed sliver and to the best of his knowledge no Greek deity had that sign. The other was of a hearth which, oddly enough, was glowing golden.

Chiron sighed. It seemed he had been waiting for this to happen. "Hail Naruto Uzumaki." He declared "hail son of Amaterasu, She Who Illuminates The Heavens, Lady Of The Black Flames, Ruler Of The Plain Of Heaven, hail Naruto Uzumaki. He who is blessed by Hestia, Goddess of Home, Family, and the Hearth, Guardian of Hope, hail." He yelled, sounding for the first time Naruto had known him, old.

Naruto immediately asked the question that was on everyone's mind "who?" Oh he knew who Amaterasu was of course it was just that he was only told the Greek Gods existed so how was his mother a deity from the Shinto religion?

Chiron sighed sounding old. "Twelve years ago the Goddess Amaterasu had a son with a mortal. Amaterasu rules in a dimension parallel to our own. Apparently she did not like the way that the village she had been forced to leave you in treated you, as such she beseeched the Gods of Olympus to allow you to remain in this world, to which they agreed and now Naruto Uzumaki, here you stand."

Laughter came from behind the assembled campers as Dionysus made his way into the crowd. Naruto raised an eyebrow at his laughter. "What's so funny" he asked honestly not getting the joke.

"Oh it was just what Chiron said" Dionysus told him, still chortling. "Your mother didn't beseech the gods of Olympus Naruto Uzumaki she damn well told us what was going to happen. We all owed her enough favours that we had no choice in the matter. How do you mortals say it, ah yes. She 'had us by the balls' as it were" the wine god told him.

Naruto sighed "soooo, what now?"

**XXX**

"And that's pretty much what happened." Naruto relayed the day's events to Thalia who, other than looking at him like he was fantastic creature from another realm, was actually taking it quite well.

"So let me get this straight" she told him. "First you're from another dimension but were raised in this one" Naruto nodded. "Second your mother is effectively part of 'the big three' of that world" Naruto nodded again. "Third you are allowed to stay in this world because your mother more or less either had or still has all of Olympus by the nads" Naruto nodded again. Thalia sighed, "If it wasn't for the fact that you can talk to me in here I wouldn't even consider it to be possible."

Naruto couldn't help but shrug. "Believe or don't believe, in the end the truth is the truth regardless of what you may want it to be." He advised to which Thalia nodded.

"Never took you for the philosophical type" she mused.

Naruto chuckled "I'm not" he admitted. "I stole that from a fortune cookie."

Thalia burst out laughing "all hail the mighty fortune cookie" she joked.

Naruto smirked in response "oh by the way Luke, Grover and Annabeth are doing well, though I am a little upset that Annabeth didn't tell Percy he was bait."

"That's good" Thalia told him sighing "still that dose sound like Annabeth. If she thinks it will go better with someone not knowing them they aren't going to know."

"Isn't that a little dangerous?"

Thalia shrugged "dangerous or not, it did work. Can't argue with the results she gets." Naruto nodded that was true. "So they worked out where your sleeping?" She asked, Naruto's laughter had a slight sarcastic twinge to it.

"Yeah since my mother is not an Olympian regardless of how important she is in her home dimension they are not building her a cabin. I only have Hestia's blessing, I'm not actually related to her. Though even if I was she still doesn't have a cabin, so I'm stuck in Hermes at the moment" Naruto informed his friend.

Thalia nodded "so guess that means you'll be camping out by my tree." She told him smiling, Naruto grinned in return.

"I guess I will"

The remainder of their time was spent talking about frivolous things, it was more just to waste time than anything else, that didn't mean that they didn't enjoy it.

**XXX**

The following week had been, interesting for both Percy and he. They had been in a way segregated off from the other campers. Percy as he was the son of the sea God and as such monsters would stop at nothing to kill him. Even going so far as to actually break into the camp, which should have been impossible. Naruto was of the firm opinion that someone had summoned the hell hound, sure there was a first time for everything but the hounds timing was far too...convenient for it to be mere chance.

Naruto was segregated because he was not born of an Olympian god. The other half-bloods weren't quite sure how to take that and as such kept a distance. It was times like this that the Ares cabins hate of him came in very handy to the blond. He would often turn up when they were practising their sword work just to piss them off for a good fight, needless to say Shusui was beyond happy with him for that, stupid smartass sword.

Annabeth while she didn't avoid Percy or he had become more withdrawn. Often stalking off after their ancient Greek lessons muttering things like 'Quest...Poseidon...Dirty rotten...Gotta make a plan...'. Yeah as much as Naruto liked the girl she was starting to creep him out, still made for a good sparring partner though.

Someone at the camp resented Percy, Naruto knew that much as they had dropped an article that mentioned his disappearance on the front doorstep of his cabin. He had actually read the article, it didn't bode well for him either as he was mentioned as well.

_**Group Of Three Still Missing After Freak Car Accident**_

_By Eileen Smythe_

_Mother and son, Sally and Percy Jackson along with Percy Jackson's friend Naruto Uzumaki are still missing a week after their mysterious disappearance. A badly burned 78 Camero is all that is left of the three, which was discovered last Saturday on a north Long Island road with its roof ripped off and front axle broken. The car had flipped and travelled several hundred feet before exploding._

_The group of three had gone for a weekend vacation to Montauk, but left hastily mysterious circumstances. Small traces of blood were found inside the car, and one of the side doors appeared to have been cut off by some kind of bladed apparatus. But there were no other signs found of the missing group. Residents of the area reported no unusual activity around the time of the accident._

_Ms. Jackson's husband, Gabe Ugliano, claims that his step-son, Percy Jackson, is a troubled child who has been kick out of numerous boarding schools and expressed violent tendencies in the past. He added that he was worried for his wife and that his step-son was known for becoming involved with the wrong type of people._

_Naruto Uzumaki's guardian one Lyinda Morgan, Matron of Children's Mercy orphanage. Reported that Naruto had been planning to stay with the Jackson's for an extended amount of time after the trip. She added that while Naruto had been a bit of a trouble maker he never harmed others and was very worried about what could be happening to him. Naruto Uzumaki is a known Kenjutsu competition fighter and his sword has also been reported missing, police are unwilling to comment if they think that the sword is the weapon that left blood inside the Jackson's car._

_The police are also unwilling to comment if either Percy Jackson or Naruto Uzumaki are suspects in the disappearance of Sally Jackson. But they have not ruled out foul play. Below are pictures of Sally Jackson, Percy Jackson and Naruto Uzumaki. Police urge anyone with information to call the toll free crime stoppers hotline._

Naruto had been extra sadistic in his next training session with the Ares campers. Oh he didn't know if it was them, he suspected it was, he just needed to blow off some steam and the Ares campers could take the most damage before they keeled over, it was very therapeutic. For Naruto that was, it was decidedly more painful for the members of the Ares cabin.

It was later that morning when he saw Percy and Grover walking over towards the big house, the Uzumaki fell into step beside them. His hair still a little wet from the laps he had been swimming.

Grover gave him a frightened glance "uh, Naruto Mr D kind of asked for Percy only." The satyr said nervously.

Naruto smiled back, Grover swore to his dying day that he could see a demon with white robes, black eyes and purple skin hovering over his blond friends shoulder at that moment. Smiling at him and pointing a blade held in it's left hand. "Is this likely going to end with Percy being killed or maimed?" Naruto asked, Grover nodded reluctantly, causing Percy to pale more, if that was even possible. "Then I guess I'm coming" Naruto told Grover in a sing song tone, Shusui appearing in his left hand in a flash of flames and an ominous rattle. Grover nodded again, looking a little freaked out by the katana. Then again he always did seem freaked out around Shusui.

The blond looked to the south, storm clouds were brewing, Naruto whistled. That didn't look good, Grover threw a nervous look at the storm. The Apollo kids were playing the daily morning game of volleyball against the satyr's; Naruto wondered what the current score was. Last time he checked it had been satyr's three, Apollo cabin three. The win count for the games reset every week and today was Sunday after all and it would be the tie breaker.

He threw a quick look over to the strawberry patch. Dionysus's twins were working their magic there. It all looked normal, as normal as anything ever did at camp half-blood, but they were tense, like a bow stretched to breaking point. The three walked up the front steps of the big house, Mr D looked a little surprised to see Naruto but quickly shrugged it off and turned his attention to Percy.

He was sitting at the same table Naruto had met him on, playing another card game, Naruto wasn't sure what, against Chiron and two invisible opponents. Two sets of cards hovering over the table, Naruto breathed in deeply through his nose and looked at one of the empty spaces and grinned. He saw the cards shudder. Nice try Annabeth but you couldn't hide your sent from his nose.

"Well our celebrity finally arrives" Mr D drolled out. "Don't go expecting me to kowtoe to you just because your father is old barnacle beard." Lighting and thunder shook the sky.

"Blah, blah, blah" Mr D replied, Chiron feigned interest in his cards as did Annabeth, despite the fact she was still invisible. "If I had it my way" Dinoysus told Percy. "I would make you explode into flames, then sweep up the ashes and be done with this mess. However as Chiron has reminded me, repeatedly I might add, this would be against my job at this blasted camp; to keep you ungrateful buggers safe from harm." He took a deep breath in. "Instead I have agreed to restrain myself, I am now thinking of turning you into an Atlantic Bottle-nose and sending you back to your father that way. "

"Mr D" Chiron cut in, the wine god sighed.

"Fine, fine, there is one more option you can take, but you're a bigger moron than Uzumaki if you take it." Naruto ignored the insult, he would pay later. "Now I've got to go to an emergency meeting on Olympus, one you caused I might add, if you're still here when I get back I will turn you into a dolphin. If you're smart you'll take that option" Mr D finished. Before picking up one of his cards and vanishing into thin air.

"Okay I don't know about the rest of you, but that was cool." Naruto stated to which Percy nodded.

Chiron sighed and put his cards down "come and sit down you three." He told them "I am wondering what you're doing here Naruto, only Percy was asked for."

Naruto shrugged "It's most likely dangerous and one way or the other I can and will be helping him, might as well get it over with now." Chiron nodded.

"Tell me Percy what do you make of the hell hound?" He asked which caused Percy to shudder.

"It scared me" Percy admitted, Naruto didn't blame him, the hell hound had scared Naruto as well, he was just better at hiding it. "If you hadn't shot it I'd be dead."

Chiron nodded solemnly "You will see worse before your done Percy, far, far, worse." Chiron told him. That made Naruto slightly intrigued, what was going to happen next, he could feel his blood starting to boil in anticipation. "Percy I want you to go on a quest" Chiron told him bluntly, leaving a stunned Percy and a now very interested Naruto.

"The Gods, my father and Zeus, they're fighting over something aren't they. It's something very important, bad enough to cause a war between nature right? Something important that was stolen" the black haired demigod finished.

"How did you know that?" Chiron asked, Naruto was interested in that answer as well, it was a good question after all.

"When I woke up once Annabeth was there she had heard something about a theft and I've been having these weird dreams." Percy told them, Naruto smiled as he heard an uncomfortable shuffle from Annabeth.

"It's a quest, I knew it!" Grover exclaimed which caused Chiron to hushed him.

"The Oracle will decide" Chiron told him. "Never the less you are right Percy, your father and Zeus are fighting over something that was stolen. Something which was of immense power and significance. To be precise they are fighting over a lightning bolt."

"What?" Was the well educated reply from both blond and black haired demigods.

"We're not talking about some tin foil rip off here boys. This is a two foot long cylinder of celestial bronze, capped on each end with god-level explosives, Zeus's master blot. The blot has enough power inside it to make every mortal hydrogen bomb ever created look like little more than a fire cracker. It was also the first weapon forged by the Cyclopes for the war against the Titans, in addition to being the symbol of Zeus's power. It is also the bolt from which all other lightning bolts are patented from." Chiron finished taking a deep breath in.

"Your telling me something like that went missing?" Naruto asked, Chiron nodded "but how? Surely it would be well protected who in their right mind would steal something like that?" The blond demanded.

Chiron gave a strained smile "Percy Jackson would."

"Come again" was Percy's reply.

"That's what Zeus thinks anyway." Chiron told them. During the winter solstice at the last council of the Gods Zeus and Poseidon had an argument. The usual nonsense: 'Mother Rhea always liked you best', 'Air disasters are more spectacular than sea disasters' etcetera. After that Zeus finds his master bolt missing, stolen from under his very nose. He immediately blamed Poseidon. Now a God cannot take the symbol of another Gods power. That is forbidden by the most ancient of laws. But a demigod like you Percy, there is no such law against that. Before you start, no I don't think you took it." Chiron stated, Percy sighed in relief.

"That being said Zeus has good reason to be suspicious. The Cyclops forges are under the ocean after all. That gives Poseidon a degree of influence over the makers of his brothers lightning. Zeus believes that Poseidon has taken his master bolt and is using the Cyclops to forge an army of illegal copies. Copies that Poseidon could use to topple Zeus from his throne on Olympus. Zeus knows that whoever had the bolt stolen had to use a demigod to do so and the most likely culprit is Poseidon now that he has claimed you openly Zeus thinks he has found his thief." Chiron finished before drinking from the glass of water next to him.

"Okay so Zeus is a paranoid delusional bastard that believes that everyone is after his throne. What else is new, we learned that in Latin, more over that is his thought process? What is he five. I thought immortals were supposed to be mature by now." Naruto stated, the sky flashed with lighting, Naruto chose to deal with it the same way he did Shusui. He calmly walked over to a window and opened it before sticking his head out side "SHUT THE HELL UP AND PROVE ME WRONG IF IT BOTHERS YOU THAT MUCH!" The blond roared at the sky before slamming the window shut. He turned back to find everyone staring at him "what?" Naruto asked.

"You are insane" Grover deadpanned to him "completely fucking bonkers."

"Questioning Naruto's sanity can wait for later" Chiron told them "though questioned it will be" he added almost as an afterthought. "And Naruto you have met Dionysus, does he seem mature to you at all?" Chiron asked.

Naruto gave a nervous chuckle at that "point taken."

"At any rate Poseidon denies stealing the master bolt and took great offence at the accusation. The two have been arguing back and forth for months, threatening war. Now you have come along- the last proverbial straw as it were."

"But I'm just a kid, hell I haven't even been to Olympus." Percy argued.

"Percy" Chiron said "look at this from Zeus's perspective. First your most powerful weapon goes missing, your brother who has tried to overthrow you before is the most likely culprit. Then you find out that said brother has fathered a demigod that could be used as a weapon against you, despite the fact that they all swore an oath to father no more children- wouldn't that make you angry?" Chiron asked, Naruto had to nod, the centaur had a point.

"My dad didn't really have the master bolt stolen did he?" Percy asked which caused Chiron to shrug.

"I doubt it. Thievery is not Poseidon's style. But he is far too proud to try and convince his brother of that. Zeus has demanded that Poseidon return his master bolt on the summer solstice in ten days, Poseidon wants an apology for being accused of thievery by the same date." Chiron sighed. It seemed this weighed heavily on the old centaur.

"I had hoped that diplomacy might prevail, that Hera or Demeter or Hestia would make them see sense. This obviously has not happened. Your arrival Percy has inflamed Zeus's temper and he will no longer even attempt to listen to reason. If this goes on it will mean chaos, nature at war with itself, the end of world. The only way to stop it is to find and return Zeus's master bolt before the summer solstice. And you Percy would be the first to feel Zeus's wrath."

"So I have to find it?" Percy clarified.

Chiron nodded "what better way than to have the son of Poseidon return Zeus's master bolt. Could you think of a better peace offering?"

"Where is the Kami damned thing?" Naruto asked, Chiron seemed to age a hundred years in the blink of an eye.

"I believe that I know" Chiron admitted. "A part of a prophecy that I heard years ago makes sense to me now. But before I can tell Percy more he must first officially take on the quest and consult the oracle."

"Can't you just tell me now?"

Chiron shook his head "if I told you now you would be too scared to continue."

"Good reason" Naruto stated.

Chiron turned to Percy "do you agree Percy Jackson?" the black haired demigod nodded.

"Better than being turned into a dolphin" Percy stated.

"Very well then, go to the attic the oracle is there. When you come back down, assuming you are still sane that is, we will talk more." Naruto watched as his friend made his way up the stairs and looked at Chiron.

"Are you sure that this is a good idea?" He questioned, Chiron shook his head.

"No, but it is the only one that I have" the centaur told him.

Naruto leant over the table and smacked the hat off Annabeth's head "What did you do that for?" she demanded.

"It was rude" came Naruto's flippant reply, he looked at the stairs, he hoped his friend got out of this okay.

**Illuminating Heaven: Chapter 5 End**


	6. Chapter 6

**Illuminating Heaven: The Lightning Thief**

**Chapter Six: Dreams Of Darkness**

Authors note-

And here we are chapter six woo hoo, ect. This one was an all nighter, I worked hard on this one no breaks. Also I get the feeling that any hard core Percy Jackson fan's are going to lyinch me for what I've done this chapter but **please read the entire authors note this time, it will help explain a lot.**

Okay more than a few people have figured out that Naruto's 'Gate' is similar to Gilgamesh's from Fate/Stay Night. Nice job on picking that up by the way. I have been having a lot of obsession with the Type Moon Verse recently and generally look to incorporate bits of it into just about any of my stories. I shit you not, if you look hard enough you can find either a Type Moon reference or power going by a different name in every last one of my stories.

On the note of Type Moon I kind of chose to mix the universes so that Percy Jackson and Type Moon take place on the same world. I don't ask you to like it and it won't even have any real impact on the story until after The Last Olympian, but at least give it a chance. Until I've actually written the chapters please don't knock it.

For example Thalia has a dream sequence of events that will take place during the time skip from The Last Olympian to The Lost Hero. That is when Naruto will delve into the Type Moon side of the world. Which will actually have a side story dedicated to it called Illuminating Heaven: The Garden Of Sinners, but that is a long way off. Look all I would like people to do is reserve judgement until I've actually written the chapters. Also I'm already doing set up for that story so any Type Moon fan's out there keep your eyes peeled for familiar faces. Jetsmillion and Shen an Calhar I'm looking you two for this.

Thank Zimbolical for the BETA!

**Story Start-**

Naruto sighed as he leaned against the table; a storm of rain was already falling outside. It seemed Zeus was angry, with that stupid five year old mentality that he had Naruto didn't find it that surprising. The rain continued to fall, lightning raced across the sky while thunder shook the air, Naruto yawned, it had been ten minutes since Percy had ascended the stairs to the so called 'oracle' well whatever. Annabeth was still sitting in her chair, hat off, Naruto hadn't let her put it back on and kept knocking it off her head when she tried. Chiron and Grover looked concerned, Naruto thought that they probably had good reason to be, what with the fact that the oracle could apparently send people insane and all.

The blond sighed and looked out the window; it seemed that outdoor activities had been cancelled though he was will to bet that more than a few people were still outside refusing to come in. He grimaced; this quest was only going to bring trouble down on their heads. Both he and Percy were now wanted for questioning by the police, the mist couldn't fool a whole state so they would have to clear that up sooner or later, damn it this just kept getting worse.

He checked Shusui's edge on reflex, sharp, as always. Naruto yawned and looked at the air in front of him, he pushed against it, forcing it to become his door 'open the gate' he intoned mentally. Naruto had been wondering for awhile if he actually needed a verbal command to open the gate or not and it wasn't like he had anything else to do right now. The air itself groaned, gaining the other threes attention as it split open, a half meter by half meter void of shimmering gold.

It seemed that he didn't need a verbal command to open it, which would be useful to know. Naruto already knew what he wanted, he pulled it from the gate and the gold glow seemed to shimmer for a second before a book was hovering in between the gate and the air. Naruto snatched it and flicked it open nonchalantly, moving his book mark to the back. 'Close the gate' he intoned again mentally, there was the sound of rushing wind as the gate closed. Naruto paid it no mind and instead paid attention to his book.

"I've been meaning to ask for awhile but what is that?" Annabeth inquired, Naruto looked up and shrugged.

"Best as I can tell it's a gigantic storage area. But the weird thing about it is that it can take things back inside and repair them as well." Naruto told her, before his eyes turned back to his book.

"How so?" Grover asked, Naruto threw the book into the air. Shusui was drawn and cleanly split the paperback in half, like a knife going through butter. The book seemed to glow for a second before vanishing into dust. Naruto just looked in front of him. The air groaned as it split apart, the book was spat out, flying out of the gate at Naruto's head. The blond snatched it out of the air without batting an eyelash. The book was whole again, perfect as if he had not just cut it in two pieces.

"Like that" Naruto answered, flipping open to his previous page from memory.

"Any idea how it does that?" Chiron asked to which Naruto shook his head.

"No idea, I don't really understand what the gate is, just the basic mechanics behind its operation."

"You're using a power that you don't understand, Isn't that a little dangerous?" Grover asked to which Naruto shrugged.

"It's not like I have an instruction manual for my powers Grover. As a matter of fact until I can talk to my mother I really won't have any idea what I can really do." Naruto told the satyr who nodded.

"You really think you'll meet her" Annabeth asked, Naruto tuned a cold gaze on her, his eyes flashing a golden-yellow for a split second. "I mean she does live in another dimension so.." She allowed herself to trail off, Naruto sighed before nodding, she did have a good point.

"My mother gave me this sword" he told her and held Shusui up. "A bank account to put me through training to learn how to use it. I also suspect that she was the one to make Shusui able to reunite with me no matter where I am. After everything she's done for me I doubt that she won't meet with me." Naruto told his fellow blond, who nodded.

"Wonder what kind of prophecy he's getting?" Grover mused, Naruto shrugged.

"Does it really matter? We'll end up going with him one way or the other." Naruto stated, Grover nodded that was true. Naruto dismissed the book. It broke into gold dust that seemed to vanish into thin air.

Naruto sat down at the cards table and shuffled the deck. "Anyone up for poker?" He asked, completely destroying the sombre serious mood that had been apparent seconds before. Grover nodded and pulled up a chair, Chiron who was still by the table smiled and Annabeth merely nodded reaching for her Yankee cap of invisibility, Naruto grabbed it and placed it out of her reach. "We've been over that it's rude." The blond told her, Annabeth huffed in annoyance.

"Since when have you cared about that?" She asked him, he laughed.

"I don't" Naruto admitted "what I do care about is not being able to see my opponents face an tell if they're bluffing." Annabeth huffed again, causing a small bout of laughter from the three men at the table.

He dealt the cards and smiled to himself, he may as well call it his win now, four aces. Chiron smiled at his own hand as did Grover. The four of them threw in a few chips to start the pot, "so Chiron how bad will this be really?" Naruto asked his old Latin teacher, who grimaced at the question.

"Very bad Naruto" he told the blond and discarded one card. "I can't tell you much until Percy comes back down with the prophecy but it is going to be hell."

Annabeth grimaced "I see" was all the blond girl said before discarding two cards. "Call" she added, placing a few more chips into the pot.

Naruto smiled "well at least it will be interesting" the blond said flippantly. Causing the other three to look at him like he was crazy. "What? Oh, raise" he added increasing the bet.

Grover cursed "I stand by my previous statement you are insane, fold." The satyr placed his cards face down and grimaced. Leaving two demigods and one centaur in the game and betting.

"I'm not insane I just have a healthy respect for putting my life into jeopardy." Naruto sniffed primly, Annabeth, Grover and Chiron had to stifle their laughter at the blond's antics.

"Now, now, children calm down" Chiron told them before smiling. "The quest will be difficult and dangerous Naruto, you may wish to rethink if you really want to go depending on what happens. This goes for both of you as well, Annabeth, Grover." Chiron told them sternly, before adding another few chips to the pot "raise" the centaur told the two demigods.

"I don't know about Naruto but I am going, no matter what." Annabeth informed her teacher, before adding some more chips to the pot "call."

"Same goes for me Chiron" Naruto assured the old centaur adding his own chips "raise."

"If Percy goes I go" Grover added resolutely.

Chiron smiled at the three "it is good he has friends like you three, he will need them before the end." Chiron told then, causing all three to nod solemnly.

The three laid their cards on the table, Naruto gaining a shit eating grin at his two opponents hissing "Son of a bitch" at the same time. The stair case creaked and the card game was forgotten as all four looked at the door way waiting for Percy to come out.

When the black haired boy entered the room the aura was once again sombre. He looked shaken, that was the first thing Naruto noted about his friend, he looked very shaken. Almost like he had just been told the day he was going to die. Then again this was an oracle they were talking about and an oracle meant prophecy, so Percy might have actually just been told the day he was going to die.

"Well?" Chiron asked, Percy slumped into a chair at the table.

"She said I would retrieve what was stolen and see it safely returned." He replied listlessly.

"Anything else?" Grover asked anxiously.

"Yeah" Percy said and looked Naruto straight in the eye. "The son of black flame shall meet with blue, the beginning of sin will seem a garden to you." Naruto found his mouth dry, well that was freakishly ominous. But it seemed that all knowing oracle had more bad news for him. "You will find what was stolen and see your birthright returned." He finished looking at Naruto who shivered. Okay that was more than freakishly ominous. Could he back out and go home now? Because that was really starting to seem like a good option to him right now.

Chiron turned his gaze to the blond "any idea what it means?"

Naruto shook his head "other than it probably being hazardous to my health no idea."

The other four chuckled despite the grim tone of the situation. "Is that all Percy?" The ancient centaur inquired.

Percy shook his head again. He still looked listless "No that was all." He stated, the tone almost begging to not be asked another question.

Chiron studied Percy's face for a few seconds before sighing. "Do not dwell on the words of the oracle too much Percy. Most of what it says normally has a double meaning, or they only make sense when the event is actually happening and you have context for them. Most of the times they are not clear until events have already come to pass." Chiron told Percy, who looked slightly better, if you were looking at him at an odd angle, in a dark room.

Naruto could tell, as plainly as he could tell that the oracles words would eventually cause him massive problems, that Percy was hiding something. He also knew that Chiron knew that to but was voluntarily choosing not to inquire further, maybe that was a smart move maybe it wasn't. The centaur did have millennia of experience so hopefully he knew what he was doing.

"Okay so who's this god in the west? Where am I heading?" Percy asked, Chiron instantly gained a very pronounced grimace on his face. Naruto found one on his own face. This would probably not be good. Hell he knew it wouldn't be good Chiron had told them outright that things were only going to get worse.

"Think Percy, who stands to gain if Zeus and Poseidon weaken each other in a war?" Chiron posed the question. Naruto's instant answer was Hades, but he doubted that answer. It was too obvious but not only didn't it make any sense. The moment that the two brothers waged war Hades would inevitably be drawn in. When that happened if he displayed the master bolt both Zeus and Poseidon would turn on him, Zeus for the thievery and Poseidon for implicating him. Not only that but Hades ruled over the dead of the world, he would get everyone and everything eventually he just had to wait, what did he have to gain by speeding that process up?

"Somebody else that wants to take over" Came Percy's answer, Naruto knew what Chiron's answer to that would be and prepared his argument.

"Yes quite. Someone who is holding a grudge, who has been unhappy since the world was divided ages ago, whose kingdom would grow more powerful with the deaths of millions. Someone who hates his brothers for making him swear an oath to have no more children, an oath that two of them have already broken."

"Hades" Was the answer out of Naruto's mouth. He did freely admit that the lord of the dead was the most likely candidate and the motive did stack up, but something just didn't fit, that was what his instinct was telling him. Miss Marvell had commented on his instinct once and told him always to trust it, so far it hadn't led him wrong.

"You're wrong" Naruto answered.

Chiron, Percy, Grover and Annabeth turned to him so quickly that their necks made a snapping noise and Naruto wondered if he had just seen four people break their own necks. "What do you mean?" Chiron asked "the monster that attacked you two in the museum was a fury and they only answer to one master, Hades. If we take the rest of the evidence into account then it all points to him." Chiron stated, Naruto shook his head again before standing up to start pacing.

"That's just it, it adds up to cleanly." Naruto told them, causing the four to look at him strangely. "Think about it, the moment that Zeus and Poseidon go to war Hades will be dragged in. The moment that he shows that he has the master bolt both Zeus and Poseidon will attack him. Also he is the lord of the dead. Everything dies eventually, even gods. He will get everyone eventually so why is he trying to speed up the process? Look I know a lot of it fits but something isn't right here." Naruto told the four, who looked at him in concentration.

"I can see your point" Chiron told him. "But then how do you explain the fury and the hell hound?" He asked to which Naruto shook his head.

"I don't know Chiron, I don't know. All I do know is that this fits together far too cleanly for it to be mere coincidence, it's too clean for it to be true. Almost as if someone wanted us to find the links, we're puppets dancing on someone else's strings, and I hate that feeling." Naruto finished, Chiron nodded he could see where the boy was coming from but they didn't have any better ideas.

"Be that as it may he is the only lead we have right now and we need to take advantage of that." Chiron told him, before sighing. "If I am wrong then the only hope that we have is that whoever the real culprit it reveals themselves before the summer solstice, you may be right Naruto but the truth of the matter is we don't have enough time. Hades to be honest is your first and likely last chance of finding the master bolt before time is up." Naruto nodded looking dejected by the fact, he sighed, well this couldn't be good.

"Great that's just great" Percy muttered. "Either two major Gods want to kill me or one major god wants to kill me while someone manipulates them from the background, isn't that just freaking wonderful." He looked up at Chiron, a curious expression on his face. "Wait a second I know that we only suspect Hades but can't we just tell the other Gods? Then either Zeus or Poseidon could go down to the underworld to see if we were right?"

Chiron shook his head. "Sorry Percy but it doesn't work like that." The ancient centaur told the black haired boy. "Suspecting and knowing are not the same if the other Gods suspect that Hades stole the master bolt, or even if they suspect someone else stole it, they could not retrieve it themselves. Gods cannot cross into each other's territories except by invitation. That is a most ancient law. Heroes on the other hand have far less restrictions placed on them." He added with a grin.

"They can go anywhere do anything, challenge anyone. Provided they have the skill and the courage to do so. No God or Goddess can be held responsible for a hero's action, why do you think that Gods always operate through humans?"

Naruto slammed his fist onto the table causing the other four to look at him if fright. It wasn't often the sarcastic laid back blond let his temper get the better of him. "So he's being used" Naruto hissed out.

"I am saying that it is no accident that Poseidon claimed Percy now" Chiron corrected. "Your father needs you right now Percy, he needs you and any and all of the allies that you can gather to yourself." The centaur told the black haired child who nodded, albeit reluctantly.

Percy looked up at Chiron in suspicion "you knew I was Poseidon's son all along didn't you?" He accused, Chiron smiled sheepishly, looking a little abashed.

"Busted" Naruto muttered, causing Annabeth to chuckle at her fellow blonds antics.

"I had my suspicions. I have spoken to the oracle too. Besides I was not the only one who knew was I, Naruto?" Naruto went pale as Percy whipped around to him.

The blond sighed in defeat "Fine you got me." He admitted with a sigh.

"How the hell did you know!?" Percy demanded.

Naruto sighed again "to be honest I didn't know but I suspected." Naruto told his friend "think about it. You excelled at everything even slightly related to water sports, hell anything that involved water at all you were good at. That was the tip off for me. I suspect that it was Chiron's as well." The centaur nodded in agreement.

"Besides that wasn't the question you wanted to ask me Percy was it. What you wanted to ask me was 'why didn't you tell me' right." Naruto didn't bother to wait for Percy's answer. He already knew that was the question that his friend wanted to ask. "The answer was quite simple, I didn't know for sure and I didn't want to give you false hope. Sure Percy I suspected but I didn't know, so I didn't tell you fair enough?" He asked, Percy nodded if a bit stiffly. Naruto suspected that he had lost some of his friends trust with his admittance. Still he would earn that back with time.

Percy sighed "so let me get this straight. First I have to go to the underworld and then confront the lord of the dead"

"Check"

"Find the most powerful weapon in the universe."

"Check."

"Then somehow get it back to Olympus before ten days are up."

"That is about right" Chiron told him.

Naruto sighed "don't forget the travel time" the blond told him.

"Huh" Percy asked.

"The travel time, you can't fly Zeus would smash that plane out of the sky so we're going to have to go overland, that is going to suck. Not to mention your and my ass is wanted for questioning by the police so we have to be careful since we can't afford to be picked up, oh man this is so troublesome."

"Are you sure the master bolt couldn't be in Maine, I hear it's very nice this time of year." Grover interjected, and was summarily ignored by three of the four.

Percy turned to his friend "you don't have to come Grover. I know where we're going, I can't ask that of you."

Grover shook his head "no I'm coming." He stated resolutely. "It was just that satyr's don't go well with underground places. Besides you saved my life, you and Naruto saved my life. I want to repay that so I'm coming."

Naruto clapped the satyr on the back laughing "now that's the way G-man!" The blond stated still laughing.

Percy smiled at his two friends antics "so where do we go? All that the oracle said was head west."

Chiron smiled "the entrance to the underworld moves as the Gods do. Currently it is situated in Los Angeles" Naruto sighed, this was going to be a long trip. Especially with things trying to kill them, oddly enough that didn't bother him as much as it ought to.

"Since the prophecy mentioned Naruto by title it's safe to say that he has to accompany you. Normally you could only take two people but since it mentioned him by name you will be having three along with you. You already have Grover and Annabeth has volunteered herself if you will have her." Chiron told Percy pointing to Annabeth who made a grab for her Yankee's hat, Naruto moved it out of her way without even looking at her.

Percy looked at Annabeth for a second "when did she get here?" He asked, Naruto whistled. He knew that his friend was out of it but damn.

"I was here before you walked in to talk with Mr D" Annabeth told Percy indignantly.

Percy turned to Naruto who was still keeping the hat out of her reach "hat of invisibility?"

"Hat of invisibility" Naruto affirmed, raising said hat above his head as Annabeth made another grab for it.

Annabeth gave up chasing the hat and turned to Percy. "I've been waiting for a quest for a very, very, long time sea-weed brain. Now I'm offering you my help do you want it or not?" She asked, Naruto sighed as he stood up. He didn't feel like listening to the next round of verbal sparring.

"I'll be getting my stuff, send a runner when they're ready to leave." Chiron nodded, Naruto dropped the hat on the table and walked outside. Ignoring the rain on his figure he walked to the shade of Thalia's tree. She was one of his only real friends in camp half-blood, so he would wait here for them to finish up.

Naruto still didn't know how to contact her while awake so he couldn't even say goodbye, still she had told him once that she seemed to be sleeping when he wasn't there so Naruto supposed it didn't really matter. The trees branches did a good job at keeping most, if not all, of the rain off him, Naruto sighed as he sat on one of the roots Shusui resting on his shoulder, he got the feeling he might be waiting for awhile. He didn't really need to pack anything. Everything he needed was inside the gate anyway.

**XXX**

_Thalia could see it, a dream, was it from a time long distant or a time till to come she didn't know. How could she? She had no idea when this dream was taking place or even if it would come to pass at all. Normally it was as if she was in a dreamless sleep when Naruto was not visiting her so that made this all the more strange to her._

_The first thing she noticed was that it was dark, a full moon and stars glowing overhead. She was in a forest, a very old forest, one that made her think that time had forgotten it. It was deep and vast, one of the last places in the world where humans could not say they had conquered it._

_In the darkness directly in front of her sat Naruto. He was older, a lot older than he was at the moment. The Naruto she knew was twelve going on thirteen, this man looked like he was seventeen to twenty. He was dressed almost entirely in black, black combat boots, black pants, black shirt, black trench coat, the trench coat holding a strange spiral symbol on it's left shoulder, an eight sided mirror on his right. A silver belt buckle could be seen around his waist. He looked as if he was asleep, his left knee brought up near his chest, right leg out, head down, breathing regular. In the crook of his left arm was a sword, not his normal blade Shusui, but another blade, a blade that was captivating in its beauty._

_It was a European blade, a majestic one at that. Its pommel consisted of a blue sapphire inset with gold. A blue leather wrapped hilt, a ruby inset where the haft met the guard. The guard itself was inlaid with blue enamel and gold, she could only see the scabbard from that point onwards but even that was breath taking. It was inlaid with gold and blue enamel, intricate designs and strange words adorning the scabbard. A language never meant for human ears or tongues._

_She looked closer at Naruto himself, he looked worn but happy. The reason for that was quite clear, leaning on each of his shoulders in deep slumber was a woman. The first had long brown hair with streaks of red through it completely unbound that reached the ground. Her outfit was simple brown hiking boots, blue jeans, and a white jumper, the brown haired woman looked around twenty, she snuggled a little bit closer into Naruto who was still sleeping._

_The second had red hair that was bordering closely on orange done up into a pony tail. She looked stern, or at least she would have if she wasn't snuggled into his right shoulder as if it were a pillow. She looked a little older than the first but not by much, her outfit was also plain, black hiking boots and pants, a blue jacket and a suitcase of all things._

_They were witches, which was not an insult coming from Thalia it was a statement of a fact. The two were witches, humans of non-god decent that had managed to find ways to twist and distort the natural laws, she had no idea why he was with them or how but one thing was clear to Thalia in that instant, Naruto had become the witches guardian._

_Thalia froze. She was being watched by something. It was dangerous. It was dangerous to even so much as be noticed by this thing let alone attract its attention. Her head whipped to Naruto, his left eye was open and he was emitting a crushing amount of killing intent as he looked at her. His eye no longer its traditional blue or even the yellow that he had told her he possessed in battle. No his eyes were a piercing electric blue so vibrant that no mortal should possess them, to see those eyes is to witness death itself. "I don't know why you're here spirit" he said his voice was low as to not disturb the two women. "But you are not welcome here, begone." At his command she was pushed away from him and returned to inky blackness._

_The dream changed around her, it was Naruto again he was striding through a burning town. Corpses littered the ground around him and he paid them no mind, he drew the beautiful sword from his back. The European blade coming to rest comfortably in his right hand, the blade was just as majestic as Thalia had imagined it to be. Script in an ancient language adorned the blade along with designs that were enamelled in blue. Some of it was black though, but she could tell it should have been gold so why, it didn't matter. Above all else it was deadly she could see that, the blade though it possessed a presence, a power, which could bring the unprepared to their knees in awe._

_A small girl, maybe four, was struggling to move, Naruto walked up to her. Thalia smiled he must be here to help the people of the village against whatever monster did this. Naruto drove the beautiful sword through the back of the girls head without pausing before wrenching the blade back out and continuing on his walk towards the centre of the town. Thalia was in shock, what was this? This wasn't the Naruto Uzumaki she knew, what was going on? What had happened to her friend?_

_She looked back at the girls corpse and recoiled. What the hell was this, what was this abomination!? From the back the girl looked normal, from the front however it was a completely different story. Her eyes were dead black, a single red ring inside of them, her canine teeth were elongated to fangs and even her fingernails were claws, just what the hell was going on? Her confusion only increasing as the corpses began to turn to dust and vanish. Naruto continued his walk towards the centre of the town and Thalia ran after him there in the centre of countless corpses stood a man._

_He wore strange crow like attire, a single red eye was all that was visible from his mask, a mask that was shaped like a crow's beak. He had a blood thirsty smile on his face, he was wrong. Thalia could feel that, he was so wrong, his existence it was a mistake, he needed to be erased, he was a mistake. "How nice of you to join me" the man stated, there was playfulness in his tone. It fooled neither Naruto nor Thalia for a second. The man's murderous intent was so thick it was almost suffocating._

"_Nice to meet you Ancestor number sixteen, you are supposed to be wo__rking with the association any reason you decided to turn this entire village, __Gransurg Blackmore?" Naruto asked, the bird faced man laughed._

"_I no longer have the need__ of working for the association. I__t is no longer necessary boy." The man, no not a man __Thalia corrected __herself__, the thing told Naruto._

"_I see, tell me then Apostle why did you turn this entire village into vampires? More importantly how did you do it? There are two separate stages that one has to go through before becoming a vampire so how did you manage to turn an entire village!?" Naruto demanded, the thing laughed._

"_I don't answer to you human!" The thing spat out the word human as if it were a curse._

_Naruto sheathed the sword onto his back, causing the man to look at him strangely. The killing intent that radiated off Naruto was enough to almost crush Thalia into the earth. Her body, it felt as if her body was being burned to ashes."You, you're the bastard that hurt Touko, your minions are the ones that did that." Naruto told the thing, who merely laughed in reply. "Apostle...since it just down to you and me...using nothing but raw force...I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!" Naruto charged the thing with nothing but his fists, the thing met his blow head on with its own punch. The __resulting shock wave was enough to whip Thalia's hair around, and she was standing over twenty __meters away._

_The dream faded and Thalia returned to blacknes__s. Was that a dream of the future or just something that her brain had made up, Thalia felt herself becoming lighter. When she got outside the tree she would have to keep a close eye on her friend, to understand what she had just witnessed._

**XXX**

It actually took less time than Naruto thought it would for Annabeth, Grover and Percy to get their stuff together. Percy decided to leave the Minotaur hornat the camp, Naruto had wondered at one point why he wasn't given one but quickly shrugged it off. Percy had torn the horn off, Naruto had burned the whole damn thing down to ashes, hence no horn.

The camp store had loaned them one hundred dollars, well loaned was a bit much. Loaned implied that any of them had the intention of paying the money back. So it wasn't really loaned it was more of given. In addition to that Chiron also gave them twenty seven golden drachmas, apparently the mortal version was silver but Olympus refused to use anything bar pure gold, which Naruto thought was a bit of a waste really. Apparently Chiron said they would come in handy for non-mortal transactions, wow even Gods and Goddesses were looking to make a quick buck, now that was just sad.

Each of them also received a bag of Ambrosia squares and a canteen of Nectar, to be used only in emergencies. Sure it could heal just about any wound but it could also set them on fire from the inside out if they ate or drank too much. It was God food after all, which led to Naruto asking the question why it set people on fire, to which no one had an answer beyond, it's god food. Which he took as what it was, a covert way of saying they had no idea why that happened.

Annabeth brought her magic hat of invisibility, she gave Naruto the evil eye when she saw him and clutched it to her chest, causing the slightly older blond to laugh. The hat was apparently a twelfth birthday present from her mother. A book on famous classical literature to read when she was bored, which was in ancient Greek of course. Naruto offered to throw that into the gate for her, Annabeth declined saying that she may want to read it when normal people were around and Naruto couldn't go opening holes in reality when they were watching. Making the male blond argue that he could, it just wasn't a smart idea.

She was also packing a celestial bronze knife up one sleeve. Naruto made a mental note to forge her a pair of trench knives when he had some time. Annabeth was quite skilled at Pankration after all, that made Naruto wonder what she could do when she could combine her formidable weapon skills and hand to hand combat skills. Naruto suspected that it would be a sight to see, to say the absolute least.

Grover once more wore his fake feet and a pair of pants to make himself look human. In addition to that was a green Rasta-style hat to conceal his horns. Apparently when his curly hair got wet from the rain they would poke through. His bright orange back pack, which Naruto thought was awesome finally someone that didn't hate on the orange, was filled with tin cans and apples for him to eat on the trip. In his pocket were a set of reed pipes that his daddy goat had carved for him. Grover had, thankfully, increased his music repertoire beyond Mozart's piano concerto no.12 and Hilary Duff's 'So Yesterday'. After Naruto had told him how horrible both of them sounded on reed pipes. His repertoire now included various folk songs and others that his fellow satyr's had been willing to teach him. 

Naruto now stood next to Chiron, who was in his wheel chair and the camps head of security. Who Naruto had just learned was named Argus, he personally thought that the man had a pretty good sense of humour. The man would be driving them to the bus station so they could get tickets to Los Angeles. Which made Naruto question why the guy couldn't just drive them the whole way, his answer was that Argus was needed at the camp as head of security. Which was fair enough, when he asked why someone else couldn't drive them the whole way Chiron told him it was a quest and they needed to make their own way like the heroes of old.

Now as much as Naruto liked Chiron he couldn't help but disagree with that sentiment. Sure the heroes of old did that, but right now the fate of the world was resting on this. Surely the rules could be bent or even broken, even if just this once. Results were results after all, Naruto freely admitted that results didn't count for everything but they did count for a lot. Then again Naruto really wasn't what one would call a traditional hero. While he was happy to fight people up front and man to man, he was equally as happy to trick them before stabbing them in the back with no remorse, he was more of a pragmatic hero than an idealistic one. It was probably one of the reasons that Chiron was more than happy to let him go along. When a problem came up that the others couldn't solve because of misplaced honour or pride or a sense of fairness, Naruto would take care of it when no one was looking and Chiron knew it.

If Naruto had to place himself in the team at the moment then Percy would be the hero. The one who always does what is best for his friends and tries to save the world the right way. Grover was their outdoors specialist, finding paths, finding food, the guide in general. Annabeth comfortably fell into the roll of planner and strangest, along with another front line fighter. Where did he fit? Well that was quite simple. Naruto was their insurance, the anti-hero as it were, if the three couldn't get the job done the clean and honest way, then Naruto would take care of it the dirty way. He wasn't proud of that he and didn't like it but he and Chiron had come to an unspoken understanding, if Percy, Annabeth, Grover and he failed to do the quest the right way then Naruto was complete the quest regardless of how he went about it.

Not that he would sacrifice his friends to do so, but Naruto would take care of the job the unhonourable way if it came down to it and they both knew it. Heroes were not the only things trained at camp half-blood, after all more than one anti-hero had a legend that was just as great if not greater than some normal heroes. Then again it call came down to what you saw as an anti-hero but that was beside the point.

Naruto ambled down the hill to wait by the SUV, before he looked back up the hill and burst out laughing. Grover was being dragged over the ground by what appeared to be a set of flying shoes, Naruto wished he had a camera, this was prime blackmail material right here. Naruto looked up at Thalia's tree, the gate opened in front of him, a book coming flying out aimed at his head, like earlier he snatched it out of the air without batting an eyelash. Annabeth looked at him quizzically.

"What is that book anyway" she asked.

In an effort that required almost inhuman will Naruto managed to tare his eyes away from his precious literature. It was difficult for him to do so as well, he was just getting to the good part. "Kara no Kyoukai" Naruto answered his eyes going back to his book.

"What does that mean?" Annabeth asked him, Naruto grimaced remembering the prophecy that he had heard earlier.

"Kara no Kyoukai" he said quietly. Annabeth almost had to strain to hear his voice. His last statement came out as barely a whisper but Annabeth shuddered when she heard it. "Kara no Kyoukai, The Garden Of Sinners." Naruto's eyes went back to the text, ignoring the little voice in the back of his head that kept trying to remind him of the prophecy he had been told earlier that day.

They piled into the SUV Grover taking the front seat by calling shotgun while the three demigods jumped into the back. Argus whistling a jaunty tune as he turned on the engine, they pulled away from the camp. The four looked back, Chiron was standing proudly in his full centaur form, bow held high in a salute, just your typical summer send off from a centaur.

**XXX**

The real world seemed a little like a fantasy to Naruto as they returned to the high way, like the last two weeks at camp half-blood were just one long dream. However he had Annabeth sitting next to him proving that was not true, ah fuck he really was wanted by the police.

"So far so good" Percy said jovially. "Ten miles out and so far no monsters" Naruto sighed. Talking like that was like asking fate to bite you in the ass with a vengeance.

"its bad luck to talk like that" Annabeth told him an irritated look on her face.

"Remind me why you hate me again" Percy asked.

"I don't hate you."

"Could have fooled me" Naruto muttered, eyes not once leaving his book.

"Look we're not supposed to get along okay. Our parents are rivals." Annabeth told Percy, Naruto sighed. Looking up from his book, and stretching. For some reason he got motion sickness if he read it for too long while they were driving.

"Yeah" the blond told her. "But that's your parents shit, why does it have an impact on you. Your parents problems are their problems, no need to go brining them into this." Naruto advised which caused Annabeth looked at him.

"But one time my mother caught his dad in her temple with his girlfriend. That's hugely disrespectful and more than that-" Naruto chose to cut her off.

"Annabeth that was Poseidon this is Percy. Do not confuse the two, what happened between your parents is their shit. Do not bring it into the relationship between the two of you." Naruto advised her, Annabeth sighed. "Look at it this was Anna, if you found a baby that was the child of a serial killer then would you judge the baby for the parent's crimes?" He asked to which Annabeth shook her head. "Then do not blame Percy for Poseidon's wrong doings, they were not his fault and will only hurt your relationship."

Naruto sighed and looked out the window, leaving a thoughtful Annabeth. In the front seat Argus smiled, he didn't say anything but one of his eyes winked at Naruto who returned it with a covert thumbs up. Traffic started to slow them down. By the time they reached Manhattan it was sunset and starting to rain, not that Naruto minded he actually liked the rain. When they arrived at the bus station Argus unloaded their bags and made sure they brought tickets to the right place. It was starting to come down hard, there was no more room where his three friends were standing to get away from the rain. So Naruto was directly across from them under an out jutting lip of a roof. A small stone garden bed separating the two sides.

A woman slipped and Naruto caught her. She had brown hair and blue eyes. On her feet were a pair of boots that came up to just below her knees, black stockings, and a red dress that made it to mid thigh, a dark brown sweater underneath. "You okay?" Naruto asked hauling her back upright.

The girl smiled "yep thanks for that!" She told him playfully, her voice was soothing and sounded a little like singing. "you didn't have to but I'm glad you did." The girl told him, now that he looked at her she looked maybe five, six years older than he was.

"No prob, no prob," Naruto told her. The girl smiled and they bother jumped back under cover as the rain started to come down hard.

"Names Aoko, where you heading?" The girl asked, she was an exuberant one Naruto would give her that.

"I'm heading with my friends to Los Angeles." Naruto told her honestly, Aoko pouted.

"No fair I wanted to hang out more" she told him as a bus pulled up. "That's me!" She declared happily "Maine here I come" she said, smiling at him.

"I hear its nice this time of year" Naruto answered, the woman nodded.

"Yep that's what I've been told to so I'm going to go and check it out." She told him, Naruto smiled at her before realising he didn't give his name.

"Naruto, nice to meet you Aoko. Don't see many people with Japanese names around here." Naruto told her, Aoko smiled at him deviously.

"That's just because their not awesome enough!" She told him, before the bus driver called boarding. "That's me! See you later Naruto!" The girl told him running off towards her bus.

Naruto chuckled "You too Aoko!" He called out after her, the brown haired girl must have heard him as she turned around and waved and smiled at him. The remaining passengers boarded the bus, Naruto dashed over to his friends now there was some room. "She smelled like roses" Naruto mused before standing next to Grover. Who had just finished telling Percy something, it looked important too but he didn't pry. If it was important to the group they would tell him and if it wasn't important to the group then it was to Percy and as such he didn't need to know unless Percy wanted to tell him.

The rain let up a bit and the three played hacky sack with one of Grover's apples. Naruto would be the first to admit that Annabeth was amazing at the game. She could bounce the apple off her feet, shins, shoulders, knees, seemingly at random and the apple only went exactly where she wanted it to. The game ended when the apple was bounced just a little too high and went too close to Grover's mouth. In one bite the satyr swallowed their hacky sack apple, core, stem and all. He tried to apologise but his three demigod companions were already on the floor laughing and they stayed that way until the bus pulled up, five minutes later.

While they were waiting around Grover started sniffing the air, as if he just smelled his favourite enchiladas. Naruto breathed in through his nose and was stunned, what was that smell, it was cloying like honey only about a thousand times as potent and he couldn't tell where it was coming from, was this what Grover was smelling?

"What are you smelling G-man?" Naruto asked, he sniffed the air again. The cloying smell of honey had grown stronger and a sense of foreboding had appeared in his gut.

"I'm not sure, maybe it's nothing." Grover told him.

"Nothing really?" Naruto asked "so your not smelling something like honey?" Naruto asked, Grover shook his head.

"No idea why you're smelling that" the goat man admitted.

When they finally boarded the bus all four found seats at the back. Naruto directly above the axle, Annabeth next to him, followed by Percy and finally Grover. When the last passengers got on the smell of honey became over powering Naruto looked up and swore. She was older and more decrepit certainly but smiling at him with nothing friendly in her eyes was Miss Dodds. The other three looked up, "shit" Percy breathed out, Annabeth was pale. Two more old ladies got on, looking exactly the same, Naruto looked down. That was a last resort, it was a horrible idea after all, on the other hand it could be a wonderful idea, a horribly wonderful idea?

"Well shit I was hoping she would stay dead longer, you know improve her teaching skills. They did leave something to be desired after all." Naruto stated, Grover and Percy found themselves nodding, what? It was true.

The bus pulled out of the station and Naruto thought of Aoko quickly. He should have gotten on the bus to Maine with her, he had a chance to score and he blew it. She was a hot older woman too, that was like hitting the jackpot at his age. The old ladies sat down and crossed their legs in the walkway, the message was clear, no one leaves.

"All three of them, di immortales" Grover whispered. Naruto looked down again, maybe horribly wonderful was the right wording for his idea.

"It's okay we can just go out the window's" Annabeth said.

"They don't open" Grover moaned.

Naruto's right hand gripped the hilt of a weapon that had yet to exist. "Back exit?" Annabeth asked. Naruto shook her head and she cursed. It wouldn't have mattered at that point anyway they were entering the Lincoln tunnel.

"Grab onto something" Naruto hissed lowly.

"What" Annabeth asked surprised.

"The moment they get up to come over here all of you grab onto something and get ready to move" he told them.

"How will we know when to move?" Annabeth asked, Naruto gained a grim smiled a small gate opened in front of him and a belt of throwing knives dropped into his waiting left hand.

"You'll know" Naruto assured her, not making Annabeth feel any better about it.

The bus went dark and Miss Dodds stood up. "I have to go to the bathroom" she said in a monotone.

"As do I" the second sister added.

"As do I" the third added, Jesus Christ it was like they had no individuality.

Naruto looked over at his friends to find all of them gripping the seats for dear life. "Annabeth do not lose hold of that hat this is going to get wild." He told her, the blond was instantly clutching the hat for dear life as well. The Furies were half way to them, Naruto sucked a deep breath in. Shusui came to his right hand and he executed his horribly wonderful idea. Stabbing Shusui into the axle of the bus to send it out of control, it worked a little better than he was expecting.

The bus swerved violently, twisting and smashing against the side of the tunnel as the side of the bus was slowly ground away in a shower of sparks. The Furies were thrown into other passengers, in fact the only people that weren't thrown around were the three demigods and one satyr. Naruto leaped over Percy and landed next to the wall of the bus, he felt something move inside his chest. It pulsated and roared like an open furnace, he could feel it moving through his veins, the very essence of fire. "AHHHHH" Naruto screamed to the heavens as Shusui came down, four quick cuts, he didn't even know he could move this fast. His leg came back and booted the wall, sending the newly severed metal flying across the lanes of trafic and embedding itself with a scream of steel into the opposite wall.

"EVERYBODY OUT!" Naruto yelled to his companions, they didn't needed any more urging. Percy leaped out of the newly made exit, followed closely by Annabeth and Grover. Naruto spun, a pair of throwing knives coming to his hands, he whipped them forward. Impaling two of the Furies right between the eyes. The one he had recognised as Miss Dodds changed, becoming her twisted hag form again, her purse becoming a flaming whip. Naruto couldn't dodge, the whip wound itself around his left arm, no pain. Naruto felt no pain from the fire, the feeling was still in him, like molten magma was coursing through his veins.

The blond twisted and dragged Miss Dodds who was still holding the whip. The Fury found herself picked up by the force of the blonds twist and thrown at the wall of the bus. She expected to hit the wall, instead she went straight through it, metal screaming as the Fury turned projectile ripped through it. Naruto released his grip on the whip and the Fury went sailing to end up embedded in a the wall next to the metal that used to cover Naruto's home made emergency exit. The blond jumped out of the bus, and hit the ground running, his hand whipped out and Miss Dodds found a throwing knife embedded in her heart. Naruto didn't slow down for a second, he exited the Lincon tunnel following the distant figures of his friends and hoping beyond hope that no one got a clear look at his face, or worse a picture.

**XXX**

Naruto sighed as he walked, Percy and Annabeth directly behind him, Grover to his left. It was nice to know that Gods existed at times, it gave him someone to blame when shit went horribly, horribly, wrong for no apparent reason at any given time. Because it let Naruto know that there was a reason it went wrong, the Gods felt like fucking with humanity, again. He took comfort in that because as a half-blood now walking through the woods somewhere in New Jersey, with a bus that had just been blown up behind you and after just being attacked by three supposedly mythological beings. Unlike normal humans he didn't suspect, he knew that some otherworldly force was in fact trying to fuck up his day, and at this point Zeus was succeeding at it too. Naruto just added it to the ever growing list of why he was starting to hate the lord of the sky.

If he ever went to Olympus Naruto was determined to offer his services to Hera just to spite the man. So when the day came that Zeus had a job for him to do Naruto could tell him to his face to go check with his wife first. Because she was obviously the brains of the operation, it was an oddly satisfying fantasy. Probably because it ended up with Zeus looking like a moron every time he ran it through his head. They had lost just about everything on the bus baring a canteen of Nectar and Annabeth's hat of invisibility. The money however was gone, Naruto did have his ATM card on him but he would actually need to find an ATM to be of use first, then a taxi immediately afterwards.

Naruto would freely admit that he enjoyed cop shows and spy movies. So he was a bit paranoid about using the card only to have the cops home in on him when he did. The moment he used that card he wanted his exit next to him, he wanted to be gone by the time the boys in blue packing heat and doughnuts turned up. Now that he thought about it he could go for some doughnuts, 'mmm, doughnuts.'

"I still say he's crazy" Percy's voice came from behind him, Naruto sighed, they were debating his sanity, or lack there of, again.

"Seconded" Grover called from next to him, Naruto sighed and kept his eyes he needed them to stop questioning his sanity while he was around. He liked the illusion that he was sane thank you very much.

"_Toot-toot-toot" _Naruto turned to Grover, who was holding a set of reed pipes up like they were a gift from Kami herself. "My reed pipes still work" he said excitedly. "If I can remember a 'find a path' song then we can get out of here no problems." Naruto heard a thump before swearing from behind him. He turned back, Percy had walked into a tree. The young Uzumaki added that to the list of powers Percy did not have, night vision.

Then he smelt it, the sweet smell of unhealthy greasy food. His stomach grumbled, Naruto knew as a fact that he had a fifty in cash in his wallet. More than enough for a small or even a large meal at a fast food joint. It seemed the others had picked up on it to, as all of them were walking in the same direction.

They came out on a deserted two lane road. It wasn't a fast food joint either. It was a small road side curio shop, Naruto inhaled again, there it was that smell that smell like cloying honey. He shrugged it off he could smell food coming from across the road. He looked at the sign 'Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium' he smelled food and the cloying smell again before shrugging, after all how bad could it be?

**Illuminating Heaven Chapter 6- End**


	7. Chapter 7

**Illuminating Heaven: The Lightning Thief**

**Chapter Seven: Well Fuck**

Authors note-

Yo and we're back, I'm glad so many people didn't have anything negative to say about the Type Moon addition to the story. Thank you for at least giving it a chance, now moving right along. We have the Medusa fight, I think I did a fairly good job of making her a mix between the Percy Jackson Medusa and the Fate/Stay Night Medusa but I will leave that up to you to decide, please enjoy!

Also I would like to clear something up now, firstly no Naruto does not have Ea. While I love that sword it is also a complete game breaker. Because he could quite literally end every threat he came across with it with ease. Second no Naruto will not gain Ekiendu either, while I admit that the chain is awesome the fact it can chain a god makes it a game breaker.

Also there will be side stories between each main story of the Illuminating Heaven series. Most of which I have decided will focus on Naruto retrieving a weapon or artefact of some kind to help in the eventual war against Kronos. It will also be in these side stories where he experiences the most exposure to the Type Moon Verse. Since we're at the half way mark, roughly, of the lightning thief I think it's safe to tell you all what the first side story will be called. Illuminating Heaven: Crimson Rose. Type Moon fans might want to think about what that means.

Also can anyone think of a better summery than the one I have up at the moment because it's pretty shitty. If you can please send it to me in a PM.

Thank Zimbolical for the BETA job!

**Story Start-**

Naruto looked at the roadside shop again, hmmm. It was definitely open, but roadside stall in the middle of nowhere that conveniently has a snack bar attached and lots of stone statues. His sense of danger went off, and then his stomach growled and Naruto ignored it and walked to towards the roadside shop.

"Snack bar?" Percy asked.

"Snack bar" Annabeth confirmed.

"Uh guys this place looks creepy as hell, maybe we should just leave." Grover suggested, Naruto looked at the stone statues again. There were dozens of them from children and adults to a cement satyr playing the pipes, it was actually very life like. Naruto felt the sense of foreboding increase, maybe they should leave. The smell of food hit his nostrils again and all thought of leaving were instantly driven out of the blonds mind. Grover looked at the statue of the satyr again and bleated. "That looks like my uncle Ferdinand!"

The three demigods stopped outside the door to the snack bar. Percy raised his hand to knock, "don't do it!" Grover told him "I smell monsters." He hissed at the unreacting Percy.

"Your nose is still clogged up from the Furies" Annabeth told him kindly. "All I can smell is burgers, aren't you hungry Grover?"

"I gotta side with Annabeth here G-man" Naruto told the satyr. "All I can smell is burgers and something that smells like honey. I make the assumption that monsters do not smell that appetising. At any rate Annabeth has a good point, we're all pretty hungry might as well eat while we can."

"But you said you smelled meat, I'm a vegetarian!" Grover told them indignantly, Naruto looked at his friend for a second.

"By the way I've been meaning to ask is that a personal choice or are all satyr's vegetarian?" The blond asked, Grover looked surprised for a second by the abrupt change in topic.

"We're all vegetarian's but what does that have to do with." Percy knocked on the door and Grover looked at Naruto with an annoyed expression. Bastard had distracted him so he couldn't talk Percy out of knocking. Naruto just smiled back, Grover sighed, he was Naruto's friend but the blond could be a bastard at times.

The door cracked open to reveal a rather tall Middle Eastern woman. Or at least Naruto assumed Middle Eastern as she wore a robe that covered everything bar her hands. The blond did suppose that thought was somewhat racist but unfortunately that was just the way it was, when most people saw a woman in a robe like that they assumed Middle Eastern. Her eyes glittered behind a curtain of black gauze, but that was about all the blond could make out. Her hands were a cream like colour and didn't look that old but well manicured and cared for. Naruto guessed she was probably around the age of a mother so anywhere from twenty seven and up, she was also probably a real looker, her husband was probably a lucky bastard.

Her accent didn't help the stereotype Naruto's brain had constructed. She even sounded Middle Eastern. "What are you doing here children? It is far too late for you to be out alone, where are your parents." Naruto chose to interject here before someone could say something stupid. Like oh he didn't know, like Percy or Annabeth said they were orphans and they got separated from their circus caravan. He didn't seriously think that any of them were actually dumb enough to try an excuse that bad but you never know.

"We know that miss." Naruto told her smiling "our cab broke down a few miles back and instead of waiting for another one we decided to walk. The driver assured us that our destination was only a half an hour away on foot and pointed us down this road. Now we seem to be a bit lost, I was wondering if you wouldn't mind us buying some dinner and then if you could please let me use your phone to call another cab?" He lied convincingly. Thankfully the others picked it up quickly and nodded at his deceleration.

The woman nodded "of course, of course." She told them "I am aunty Em please go through the warehouse, the dining area is in the back. When you're done you are more than welcome to use the phone." Naruto nodded to her and smiled widely.

"Thank you very much" he told her before motioning the others to move. Inside there were even more statues, these ones were all humans, dressed in different costumes with different expressions on their faces. Naruto couldn't help but be impressed. They were all so life like. Whoever made them was obviously a talented artist. He was betting that it was aunty Em. Still you would have had to have a very large garden to fit them all, as every last statue was life sized.

Naruto's mind went back to the food, oh dear sweet Kami he wanted food. A small part in the back of his mind was calling him a moron for walking into a place like this considering how creepy it looked. Naruto drowned that part of him out with thoughts of delicious, delicious food. Seriously the aroma of the burgers was like some kind of drug, it made everything else go away. Though Naruto did notice that the statues eyes seemed to follow him, that was just plain creepy.

When they finally came to the dining area it had everything Naruto could have wanted, minus ramen. A grill, a soda fountain, pretzel heater, a nacho cheese dispenser and Naruto swore he could see a soft serve machine in the back. All with a few stainless steel picnic tables out front, Naruto sighed, it might not be perfect but it was more than enough.

"Please sit" aunty Em told the four.

"Thank you very much" Naruto told her and quickly took a seat.

"Um" Grover started "we don't actually have any money." Naruto laughed causing the other two to look at him like he was crazy.

"Now, now, don't think so little of me G-man. Our ride may have bailed but I do still have my wallet on me, we'll be fine." Naruto told the satyr who nodded reluctantly.

Aunty Em shook her head. "No, no, need for money children. You have already had such a bad day I will do what I can to make it better." She told them, Naruto, Percy and Annabeth smiled at her, she was such a nice lady.

"Thank you ma'am" Annabeth told her, giving aunty Em the best smile that she could.

The woman stiffened, as if Annabeth had just done something wrong. The cloying smell of honey made its way to his nose. Making Naruto pay closer attention, that cloying honey like smell it was overpowering, where the hell was it coming from? Aunty Em relaxed just as quickly as she stiffened.

"Quite alright Annabeth." She told the girl "you have such beautiful grey eyes child." Naruto's mind went into overdrive. Oh hell this was not good. They hadn't introduced themselves had they? No Naruto didn't think they had, this was probably bad, this was probably very, very, bad. Aunty Em went back behind the counter, Naruto was glad he hadn't let his surprise show on his face otherwise if this was a trap the woman would have likely sprung it.

She started cooking and in what seemed like no time at all came back around the counter with trays filled with double cheese burgers, vanilla shakes and XXL servings of fries. Trap or not Naruto was starting to like this woman. He also made a mental note to raid the till before they left.

The four, minus Grover, dug in. Though compared to the other two Naruto ate at a more sedate rate. He was waiting for whatever aunty Em was planning to start. Grover idly picked at his chips, eyeing the grease paper underneath as if he would rather eat that. Naruto picked up a small hissing sound, what the hell could be making that anyway?

"What's making that hissing sound?" Grover asked, Naruto had to resist face faulting. Way to go Grover, they probably walked into a trap already why don't you go and ask the nice lady to spring it on them faster. The blond pointedly ignored the fact they he had a role in dropping them into the trap in the first place.

"Hissing?" aunty Em asked. "Perhaps you here the deep fryer oil? You have good ears on you Grover." aunty Em told him, Naruto started to gauge his distance. He knew that he had only called Grover G-man in front of the woman. That settled it she was an enemy, probably.

"I see you sell statues, custom orders?" Naruto inquired, the woman nodded cheerfully.

"Indeed, be they gnomes, children, animals and people. I see everything and anything related to the garden, there is a lot of fun and enjoyment in statuary you know." She told him, Naruto nodded and smiled back. He could see Percy and Annabeth look a little sleepy, something in the food. Under normal circumstances Naruto would have attacked by now but he had no idea what kind of monster aunty Em really was. If he made a move before he knew that they might all die.

"I can't imagine you get a lot of business of this road, have you thought of moving?" Naruto asked her, the woman nodded empathetically.

"I have" she admitted. "My customers have dropped dramatically since the highway was built. But the amount for a better location is too much for me at the moment so I spend my days here reading my books." She told them, Naruto nodded at her, he managed to get a look at her eyes through the gauze. They were behind a pair of glasses. Her pupils however were square shaped. Damn she seemed like such a nice woman too, it was unfortunate they were probably going to be fighting to the death soon.

Naruto felt eyes on the back of his neck and turned. A young girl, holding an Easter basket, the detail alone was incredible but her eyes were terrified, wait a second. Stone statues, freaky eyes, hissing, oh shit. Medusa, the only thing Naruto couldn't figure out was why he had been able to meet her eyes without turning to stone. He guessed it had to be something to do with the glasses. She was turned into a gorgon by Athena as well if Naruto's memory served him correctly and that was why she was so hostile to Annabeth.

Still if a single look without those glasses could turn him to stone he would have to time this carefully.

"Ah you see one of my creations" the gorgon said playfully. "Unfortunately some do not sell. It is always so hard to get the face right." Damn it, if it wasn't for the fact she was going to try and kill them at some point Naruto felt like he could have really liked this woman.

"Do you make them all yourself?" Naruto asked, please don't let her sisters be here that would complicate things so much.

"Yes at one point I had two sisters to help me but we went our separate ways years ago. I do still hear from them occasionally though." She said brightly, Naruto cursed why she had to be likeable. He was sure he was going to feel guilty for killing her now, why did she have to be so damn likeable. "Still it does get lonely here, that is why I make all these statues. They are my company."

"Two sisters?" Annabeth asked, leaning forward food forgotten.

"Indeed" she said to Annabeth. "You see, Annabeth, a bad woman was jealous of me, long ago, when I was younger. I had a boyfriend at the time and she was determined to break us apart. She caused a terrible accident and my sisters stayed by me for a long while afterwards. But we eventually parted, I alone was left." She told her, a sombre tone in her voice. It was enough to make Naruto feel bad for the gorgon.

"Naruto" Annabeth said looking at the elder blond. "Maybe you should make that phone call now. After all it's going to take some time for the cab to arrive."

Naruto nodded "that is probably a good idea" he told her. "Aunty Em do you mind me using the phone now?" He inquired which caused the gorgon looked at him for a second.

"Of course you may, Naruto" she told him, "but before you do would you mind terribly if you sat for a pose."

"A pose?" Naruto asked to which Medusa nodded.

"Yes a pose with all four of you, I will use it to make a now model. Children are always popular models in statuary, everyone loves children." Medusa told him, he could almost see the smile. She already knew he knew who she was. Now they were both just playing the waiting game. Medusa trying to set the field up to best capture them, Naruto trying to set it so he could kill her, neither begrudged the other for it. Medusa wanted to turn him into a statue for her collection, Naruto needed to kill her to go on with the quest, nothing personal on either part. In fact had they met under different circumstances Naruto was quite sure they probably would have liked each other. The only thing that could be regarded as personal was that Medusa wanted to get Annabeth for pleasure more than business.

"That's a great idea" Percy said, Naruto threw a quick look back and groaned internally. He had finished everything on his plate. Damn it, whatever Medusa had snuck into the food was affecting him fully now, Medusa was in front in their little game right now.

Annabeth agreed reluctantly, Naruto could see the humour in Medusa's eyes. As he walked past her Naruto smiled "you're in front now, but I'll turn that around." Naruto told her, he could see Medusa smile wider under her veil.

"Your more than welcome to try boya" she told him and walked past, her hips swaying as she did. Ah man, this kill was going to make him feel guilty he could see it coming.

They walked back out into the garden of statues. The light of the sun was almost gone. They were directed to a park bench in the centre of the garden. "Now I just need to position you correctly." She told the four. "Naruto you on the far left, Grover on the far right, Percy next to Grover, Annabeth next to Naruto." Medusa told them, the four arranged themselves appropriately. Naruto checked his traction on the ground, it was a little dusty but it shouldn't hinder him.

"Uh, aunty Em" Grover said "where is your camera?"

Medusa stepped back as if to admire her shot, Naruto breathed in deeply and closed his eyes. Every muscle loose and free but ready to move in an instant. "The face is always the most difficult" Medusa mused. Naruto could hear the amusement in her tone. They both knew what was about to happen. "Now please smile for me children, a big smile!" Medusa told them encouragingly, to Naruto the world went deathly silent.

Everything seemed to slow down. He could hear his blood pounding inside his ears. He knew this feeling. It was one he only experienced when his body was going into overdrive, everything inside him ready to work at peak performance at a moments notice. If 'aunty Em' noticed this then she didn't show it.

"I will be just a moment. I can't see you very well while I wear this cursed veil." Medusa said as Naruto surged forward coming off the bench at the same time as Grover's startled cry came.

"THAT IS UNCLE FERDINAND!" Came the satyr's cry, Shusui found its way to its masters left hand. In an instant the blade was out of its sheath and howling towards Medusa's throat.

Naruto landed behind the gorgon, "well shit" he mused. Shusui had almost been ripped out of his hands by the impact. Medusa had thrown off her previous clothing. Underneath she really was quite the looker.

Black boots going up to her upper thighs, a short black dress, arm warmers, keeping in theme these were also black. A magenta choker around her neck that matched the colour of her long hair that reached almost to the floor. Around her eyes was a blind fold, a red symbol of some kind on her forehead. In Medusa's hands were the weapons that had stopped his assault, a pair of what could only be called metal nails as long and thick as his forearm attached to chains.

"Well, well, you almost took off my head boya" Medusa mused, Naruto turned to face his foe. He was not going to be fighting her head on, this was buying time until he could escape and back stab her later.

"Can't blame a man for trying" Naruto shot back. Medusa chuckled and nodded. "You know your legends really don't do you any justice you are far more beautiful than they give you credit for. Still I thought you were supposed to be some kind of scaly reptile like monster with snakes for hair."

Medusa laughed, it was a clean and pure sound. "I do indeed have a form like that but I won't need it for younglings like you boya, now enough talk. I may not be at the level I was for the Heavens Feel but I can still kill you, here I come boya."

Then the time for talk was over and Naruto found himself fighting for his life. The woman was an incredible fighter he would give her that. Spins, flips, twists, they all melded together to form a tapestry of action together with her chains. The first nail came at his head to which the blond twisted allowing it to pass him, while jumping to avoid the second one. Shusui cut out sending the first chain off on an angle, Medusa jumped into the air vaulting off a statue.

The magenta haired woman came down on top of him, nail leading. Naruto spun, allowing the deadly weapon to pass him, Medusa brought herself into a hand stand and kicked out at him, the first kick impacted on his face and sent him to the floor. Sweet Kami she packed a punch, the kick had sent him back a good five meters. Naruto immediately forced himself back to his feet and cut out with Shusui nicking the gorgons face. The two jumped back and were ready to clash again.

This time Medusa started them off, rushing forward and kicking out with her left leg. Naruto met her leg in mid-air with one of his own, the two grunted at the impact. A nail was thrust at his face, Naruto leaned back to avoid it, the second came at his short ribs. Shusui met it in a shower of sparks. The nail was forced out wide and Shusui cut back in, aiming to cut straight through her heart in an instant. Medusa whipped one of her chains and caught the blade before sending it out. The two exchanged a flurry of punches before backing off again.

Naruto jumped back and Medusa charged in, he used his surroundings and jumped off the park bench. He pushed off again, narrowly avoiding a nail through his lungs. He landed lightly on the shoulders of a statue, Naruto kicked out. Smashing the head off the statues shoulders and straight at Medusa's own, the gorgon flipped back and rose to her feet, Naruto was gone. The purple haired gorgon smiled to herself. "Well played boya, you win the battle, but a single battle does not win a war." The gorgon mused before walking calmly into her garden of stone. She always did enjoy a good hunt after all.

Naruto flipped himself on to the roof of the warehouse, and laid belly down. His gate opening in front of him, the blond quickly snatched the quiver of arrows and bow from the hole in reality. The blond archer nocked an arrow from his quiver without blinking and stood. The arrow came back to full draw as he took aim at his targets back, the arrow was loosed. Naruto couldn't help but smile as the arrow raced at the back of his unsuspecting prey. He was still smiling up until Medusa, **kicked** the arrow out of mid air, in the failing light most people would have been incapable of seeing it but Naruto could, he could see the gorgons lips pulled back in a smile. Naruto sighed before sprinting to the corner of the roof and threw himself off, back into the garden of stone, by the time Medusa made her way to the roof top her blond hunter was already long gone.

Naruto pressed his body to a stone statue. He had seen some messed up things so far today but by far the most hilarious was seeing Grover deliver a flying kick to Medusa's face, that was five minutes ago. He was glad that Annabeth had that magic hat of invisibility, he knew that Medusa would be targeting the daughter of her most hated enemy and that hat might be the difference between her life and death.

"**RAHHHHRAHHH!" **The unholy roar echoed over the garden, shit it looked like she had just got pissed off. Grover probably tried kicking her in the face again with his flying shoes of awesome. Now that had to be upsetting, not to mention a little embarrassing. Naruto sensed danger and kicked off the ground, back flipping in mid air before landing on the shoulders of the statue behind him. Right before a nail embedded itself in the ground right where he had just been standing. Naruto looked up, there she was, in front of him was Medusa, still wearing her blind fold. Naruto counted himself lucky, either Medusa believed in giving people a fair fight or she thought more of him then to try getting him with a cheap trick.

The blond pushed off of the statue, Shusui leading. The two came together with the screaming of steel, Shusui cut, up, down, right and left, streaking through the gloom like just another shadow. Every time the blade found itself repelled by chains of gleaming sliver, Naruto found himself wondering what the hell they were made of, Shusui could cleave through just about everything after all and yet those chains were managing to hold the black blade back.

Naruto's left leg lashed out in a kick to the gorgon's middle. A chain quickly ensnared the limb. Medusa pulled sending the blond to the ground, hard. Naruto felt the air rush out of his lungs at the impact but recovered quickly, he saw the nail coming down to end his life. The blond used his legs to fling himself into a hand stand, he slammed his left heel into the gorgon's chin and was satisfied with the wet crunch he heard from the sight of impact. The blond used his planted hand to spring himself back into a standing position.

They came together once more, every twist, every faint, perfectly executed and perfectly defended. Naruto was under no illusions, this fight was even because Medusa wanted it to be, they were probably equal right now in terms of speed and skill. If he could somehow access that power that he used against Miss Dodd's then he could probably turn the contest his way but he had no idea how to do that right now. Moreover all Medusa had to do was remove her blind fold and all the physical power in the world would count for nothing. It was more than a little hard to fight when you couldn't so much as look at your opponent.

The two met again in a rush of steel and limbs, the nail was aimed at his head. Naruto ducked underneath, Shusui cut out, Medusa blocked with her chain, her left leg kicked at his head only to be blocked by his arm. Naruto leapt into the air and slashed at his opponents head, Medusa met his assault with one of her nails, forcing the blade off at an angle. The blond twisted and cleaved through the tree he had landed next to, the great oak fell between the two combatants. Medusa jumped over the impeding object only to find her elusive opponent had vanished once more.

Naruto breathed heavily as he pressed himself against another statue, damn it this was getting repetitive. He peeked out from behind his statue and then went pale, oh fuck this was bad. Medusa's blind fold was on the floor, this fight just become unfair, Naruto kept his eyes on the floor as he searched his for opponent. He found her long legs and saw Percy walking towards her, sword in hand, looking in a crystal ball of all things. Naruto guessed it was to stop him seeing her directly, that wasn't a bad idea actually.

"Now, now, Percy you wouldn't hurt a woman now would you?" Medusa asked him, Naruto could almost see the pout on her lips.

"Don't listen to her!" Grover yelled, the gate open in front of him Naruto snatched the waiting weapon.

"TOO LATE!" Medusa yelled her nail coming forward, Naruto let the throwing knife fly, it wasn't big, it wasn't even all that powerful but it was enough to force the nail off course. The nail went out wide, Percy's sword didn't there was a sickening thud as Medusa's head hit the floor and the sound of sand hitting the floor resounded as she was turned into dust. A hissing sound came from the head, Naruto guessed it reverted to her more monster like form. He made sure not to look at the head, he had come this far and had no intention of turning to stone now. Naruto didn't know why Medusa had let Percy's sword hit her, she was more than agile enough to dodge it. Perhaps she was surprised? Or maybe Percy resembled Poseidon enough that it made her hesitate? The blond shook the thoughts off, he had more than enough to worry about without adding that to the list.

Still the blond couldn't help but feel a little bad about it all. Medusa for all her turning innocent people to stone wasn't really a bad person. Or at least she didn't come off that way to him, he pushed it to the side, whether Medusa was a good person or not really didn't matter at that point, she was dead.

Annabeth walked forward, eyes turned skyward "do not move" she told Percy. She was holding Medusa's veil in her hands, carefully without looking down she covered Medusa's head in black cloth. "Are you okay?" She asked Percy

"Y-Yeah" Percy told her. Naruto didn't think that he fooled anyone, even himself, with that statement. "Why didn't the head evaporate?" He asked, Annabeth sighed her voice sounded weary.

"When you cut if off it became a spoil of war, its the same as your Minotaur horn, but whatever you do, do not unwrap the head, it can still petrify you." Percy nodded as Grover pulled himself off a nearby statue.

"Ah the Red Barron finally decides to join the rest of us morals back on Terra Firma heh?" Naruto joked as the satyr dropped to the ground.

"I am never doing that again" Grover swore.

Percy nodded empathetically "yeah the whole kicking her in the face while flying thing was awesome, the casually getting backhanded into a statue part, not so much."

Together the band of four stumbled back to the table they had eaten at earlier, Naruto discreetly raided the register when no one was looking. There wasn't that much, only a twenty and the phone was out, well wasn't that just fucking perfect. They found a couple of plastic grocery bags and double wrapped Medusa's head, no sense in being careless after all.

"So we have Athena to thank for that monster?" Percy asked looking at Annabeth, who glared back at him.

"No we have your father" Annabeth snapped at him. Putting extra emphasis on your, "Medusa was your fathers girlfriend. They decided to meet inside her temple and so Athena turned Medusa into a gorgon along with her two sisters who helped her get in because of the insult. That was why she seemed to dislike me so much."

"So it's both their faults then." Naruto interjected, causing the two arguing demigods to look at him he shrugged. "Poseidon for having a dumb idea of meeting inside Athena's temple and Athena herself for over reacting."

"They did meet inside her temple without her express permission and Poseidon is a God, he was breaking the law and Medusa was uninvited." Annabeth pointed out trying to defend her mother's decision. Naruto was having none of it.

"That does not constitute turning someone into a monster Annabeth, punishment yes, turning someone into a monster no. Are you telling me that If I was to find you meeting a man inside one of my mother's temples that it would be fine for me to scar you horribly in return?" Naruto asked, he didn't wait for a reply, it was a rhetorical question after all. "No of course it's not, that would be a major over reaction. Poseidon, Athena and Medusa are all in the wrong here." Naruto told her sternly, Annabeth nodded reluctantly.

Percy looked at the bag with Medusa's head in it, Naruto could see the anger in his eyes and stood up and grabbed the head. "You thinking what I'm thinking?" He asked, Percy smiled at his friends antics.

"I'll find the box" Percy assured his friend, Naruto nodded and pulled out a pen before rummaging behind the counter and finding some paper and penning his message to the Gods, Zeus to be specific, Percy could be impertinent by sending them Medusa's head. Naruto would be so by telling them what he thought of them. Percy returned not five minutes later with a box and a filled out delivery note for Hermes Overnight Express.

_The Gods_

_Mount Olympus_

_600__th__ floor_

_Empire State Building_

_New York, NY_

_With Best Wishes,_

_PERCY JACKSON_

Naruto added his own letters to the box, with express instructions for the first to be read by Hermes then for him to wait for Zeus's reaction before reading the second one.

"They're not going to like that, they'll think you're impertinent. Both of you." Grover warned them, Naruto and Percy shrugged before answering at the same time.

"We _ARE_ impertinent" Percy added some drachmas to the pouch and closed it, with a sound like a closing cash register the package disappeared.

Annabeth just settled for sighing "let's just go. We need to think of a plan."

"They're insane, at first I thought it was just Naruto but no it had to be Percy too, why can't I ever get any rational demigods." Grover lamented in the background, the three demigods tuned him out.

Twenty minutes later they left, Naruto discreetly placed his palms together a small flame made of darkness burning between them. He placed it in the centre of the garden, where it would grow, where it would consume the entirety of the garden and the warehouse till nothing but ashes remained. He could not return the petrified people to life but at the very least he could let them finally die, should one have come back the next morning to Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium they would have only found ashes. The flames of heaven had burned the place down until nought but dust remained. Just as their master had wished of them.

**XXX**

Naruto could already tell they were in for a freaking miserable night. They camped out in the woods a good mile from aunty Em's and around a hundred meters back from the main road. In a place where the local populous had obviously been having Frat parties, damn Naruto could go for a beer right then too. They had taken some food and blankets from aunty Em's, but they didn't dare to start a fire. Well until Naruto pointed out that any monster close enough to see the fire would be able to smell them anyway. So they quickly had a small blaze going in a fire pit, the warmth was a welcome thing.

They agreed to sleep in shifts, Naruto agreed to take the third one, Percy took first and Grover second. The blond dreamed, it was nothing overly sinister just strange. He dreamed of himself, he looked slightly older than he was now, by maybe six or seven months. He was boarding a boat, to go somewhere, what was he doing, it was important he knew that much, it was very important. Vitally so, but for the life of him he couldn't figure out what he was supposed to be doing. Grover shook him awake, Naruto stood and climbed a near by tree, a small rift in reality appearing before him and he retrieved a bow and a quiver of arrows.

The blonds eyes turned to their customary battle yellow, he picked out movement in the woods. A monster, a singular monster. It had a snakes head for a tail and a dogs head. Naruto had no idea what it was called, to be honest he didn't care, the arrow was loosed, impaling the creature through the head, Naruto laid back against the trunk of the tree he was sitting on, an arrow already nocked on his bow ready to be fired.

**Olympus**

All the gods bar Hades and Dionysus, Hades because he was not welcomed on Olympus and Dionysus because of his duties at camp half-blood. Had been called to the throne room of Olympus. At the moment the two great brothers Zeus and Poseidon were in the middle of staring each other down. No God was really fooled by that, all it really was, was a pissing contest.

Zeus would demand that Poseidon return his lightning bolt and threaten war, Poseidon would tell his brother that he didn't have the damned bolt and to go up himself. Riveting conversation and all that. Most of the Gods and Goddesses were really wondering what the hell they were doing there, they weren't really needed. But Zeus had called them and so they came, just to bear witness to another round of the endless territorial pissing match between the brothers.

All that was really missing was Hades adding his two cents to the conversation. Which would inevitably result in an even bigger territorial pissing match, one would expect close to omnipotent beings to be mature but that was too much to ask from the big three.

Hermes straightened up as a package landed in front of him. The brothers ceased their arguing long enough to look over, the messenger God looked at the package for a second. "It's from your kid Poseidon" he called out opening the package. Then throwing the package inside at Zeus before opening the letter and chuckling. Oh now this kid had balls. Zeus removed the packaging around the severed head, before growling at the sight of Medusa.

"Your child is impertinent, Poseidon. I shall add that to his charges of thievery before I allow Hades to take him to the deepest pits of the underworld." The lord of the sky told his brother, who growled in response.

"You will do no such thing" Poseidon hissed at his younger brother. "Or I will give you a war that you never believed possible."

"Uh guys, there's a note from Amaterasu's kid in here as well, it's addressed to you Zeus." Hermes told the king of the Gods, who sighed.

"A note from her son of all people, why do I get the feeling this will be beyond annoying. That woman is many things, a born trouble maker is definitely one of them. I doubt her son would be any different. Go ahead Hermes, I may as well get this out of the way sooner rather than later." Zeus told the messenger God who nodded.

"To Zeus, the God with the mind of a five year old." Hermes read out, inside the chamber there was dead silence. "As you can probably tell with my opening statement I have a bone or two to pick with you, well starting now you can hear my problems with you. Problem one, you're a fucking hypocrite. I know for a fact you sired a girl by the name of Thalia after that oath on the river Styx was sworn. I also know that you're pissed at Poseidon for siring Percy. Stop being such a god damn hypocrite, you broke the oath first not him, you no longer have room to talk about it, so shut the fuck up and stop acting like a child. Since I know you've been acting like a child I would like to prescribe something to you that your family has probably been trying to give you for years, a nice big cup of MAN THE FUCK UP!"

The collective Gods and Goddesses had their jaws slowly but surely heading towards the floor. With the exception of a few who looked amused by the situation, chief amongst them Poseidon. This was the first time that a mortal had been that out rightly disrespectful to a God. Granted he wasn't standing in front of them but still, Hermes couldn't keep the grin off his face as he continued.

"Second your thought process is apparently worse than that of a four year old. My weapon of mass destruction has been stolen, blame the nearest person. Stop being a monumental dick-weed and use that brain that you, apparently, have in your head. I know you're a guy and as such tend to think with your other head but if you can get away from the thought of poon for more than ten seconds you may have been able to figure it out on your own. If you and Poseidon fight who stands to gain? That's right it's Hades. Or at least that is what one would think, until they looked at the situation again. If you and Poseidon fight then Hades will inevitably be drawn in, when he reveals that he has the master bolt both you and Poseidon would attack him so it is doubtful that he is the culprit. He would lose more than he would gain. Working that out took me less than five minutes. You do have a brain USE IT!" Hermes finished the letter and looked up.

Zeus just looked at Hermes for a second his face completely devoid of emotion. "I think that I hate that boy."

Hermes nodded before opening the second note "he says the feelings mutual."

"I really hate that boy."

**XXX  
**

Naruto yawned as he watched Annabeth shake Percy awake.The black haired boy groaned as he woke, rubbing sleep out of his eyes. The blond girl gained a gigantic grin on her face as he did so, "so the zombie joins the rest of us in the land of the living." Naruto chuckled at her turn of phrase before taking a bite out of the muesli bar he had lifted from Medusa's shop.

"How long was I out?" Percy asked, Naruto shrugged in response.

"Long enough for Grover to go exploring and make a new friend." The blond told his friend who quickly directed his gaze to the satyr. Said satyr was sitting cross legged with what Percy could only call a dirty and unnaturally pink stuffed animal.

Percy blinked as his eyes focused more, no not a stuffed animal but a poodle. A poodle that was yapping at Naruto suspiciously. "No, he's not" Grover told it.

Percy blinked again "Grover, are you talking to the poodle?" He asked, the satyr nodded, Naruto aimed an arrow at the dog who yapped at him again. The arrow was loosed, it impaled itself in the ground before the poodle who whimpered.

"Grover, tell the mutt to shut up or I swear to Kami I will make a dog skin wallet out of him." Naruto growled out, Grover nodded empathetically before he started speaking to the poodle again who whimpered and tried to back away from the blond who had another arrow nocked on his bow.

"What pissed him off so badly?" Percy questioned Annabeth who sighed.

"Ever since Grover came back with the poodle it's been yapping at him. According to Grover it had been saying some pretty derogatory things about him. I think Naruto finally got annoyed with it. You know I think this is the first time I've seen him lose his temper as well, it is definitely the first time I've seen him threaten to turn an animal into a wallet." Annabeth told him, Percy looked at the blond who was currently glaring at the poodle while caressing the arrow on his bow string. His look almost daring the poodle to yap at him again so he could make good on his threat to the canine.

"Percy" Grover said happily, probably trying to distract Naruto from his thoughts of impending murder. "Say hello to Gladiola" the satyr told him happily, the poodle went to bark then whimpered when it saw Naruto's grin increase in size and he caressed the arrow a little more. Let it be known that Naruto Uzumaki is not above instilling fear into animals should they annoy him.

"I am not saying hello to the poodle" Percy deadpanned before looking at Annabeth.

Said blond just gave him a dead serious look "I said hello to the poodle, you say hello to the poodle." He turned to Naruto for support but the blond was still to busy instilling fear into the poodle for him to notice.

Percy said hello to the poodle.

Grover went on to explain that he had found Gladiola in the woods and they struck up a conversation. The poodle had run away from a local rich family that had posted a 200 dollar reward for his safe return. Gladiola didn't really want to go back to the family but he was willing to for Grover and to get away from the 'crazy blond' who smelled of foxes.

Percy posed an interesting question to Grover after hearing all that. "Wait how does the poodle know about the reward?"

"He read the signs" Grover answered as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Naruto, who was still sitting in the same branch he had taken watch on, almost fell out of his tree hearing that.

"Of course he did" Percy replied, sounding out of it "that make perfect sense."

"So we return Gladiola to his family get the reward and buy tickets to Los Angeles." Annabeth told him in her best strategy voice.

Percy groaned "please not another bus" he begged. "It was bad enough the first time around with Naruto pulling that stunt."

Said blond snorted indignantly "it worked didn't it." He stated causing Annabeth to sigh.

"No" she told Percy "no more buses." She pointed to the train tracks "according to Gladiola the west bound train leaves at noon, we need to get moving." The camp site was stripped clear in short order as the group of four stowed their supplies before walking towards the home of Gladiola's owners.

**XXX**

The trip on the Amtrak train heading west took a grand total of two days. Through hills, over rivers, past seas of golden wheat and Naruto could honestly saw he didn't relax for a second of it. They weren't attacked even once, but to Naruto it kind of felt like they were travailing around in a giant display case. With the words 'eat me' above it in neon kill me orange, why orange? Well orange was awesome so why not. There was also the small problem that Naruto felt like he was being watched, from above, from below, as if something was waiting for the right opportunity to kill them but just hadn't found it quite yet.

Naruto and Percy tried to keep a low profile due to the news article that had been published after they had escaped the bus. On the front was Naruto with a wild look in his eyes a booting out the side of the bus. Percy next to him like an accomplice, thankfully the picture was too blurred thanks to the bus hitting the wall so they were not easily identifiable. The entire caption underneath said was that two twelve year olds that may or may not have been Percy Jackson and Naruto Uzumaki were seen fleeing a bus after assaulting three elderly passengers.

"Don't worry" Annabeth had told them. "The mortal police won't be able to catch us." She didn't sound too sure, Percy spent the remainder of the day pacing up and down the train or staring out the window. While Naruto read his book and alternately checked the sharpness of all of his weapons at random intervals. Annabeth guessed for the blond it was something like a nervous tick. Luckily they were able to get a carriage by themselves for the trip with Naruto's extra fifty added to the top of their original two hundred.

At one point Percy had spotted a family of centaurs galloping through the fields bows at the ready, hunting lunch. A child centaur that looked no bigger than a second grader smiled at him and waved, Percy waved back thanks to the fact there were no normal humans around to call him crazy. Later when Naruto was looking out the window he swore that he could see a lion in the distance, but lions didn't live in the wild in America. Not only that but the damned thing was the size of a freaking Hummer, it's fur glittered gold in the sunset and in a single bound it was gone and Naruto could no longer see it.

When the blond mentioned it to Annabeth she went pale and asked him to describe the lion to her again. Naruto did so, thinking to humour his fellow blond who simply went paler and told him that he didn't think he could see that lion. There was actually a lion, the Nemean Lion to be exact whose pelt could never be harmed by a weapon. Naruto went pale after hearing that before praying that it wasn't hunting them.

The money that they had paid had been enough to get them all the way to Denver by train. If they hadn't gotten the sleeping compartment they could have gone further but they would have had to spend the journey with normal humans. Running the risk that either Percy or Naruto could be spotted and reported to the Police, the last thing they needed was having to dodge the cops as they exited the train. Naruto slept through most of the trip in addition to figuring out how to ignite his flames at will, he had done it once before at Medusa's place now he just needed to replicate it, it turned out to be quite simple. First he had to imagine a flame then force himself to believe it was real, that there was no difference between his imagination and the real thing. Then he had to fuel it with his own energy, the kind of flame depended on the amount of energy he found necessary to use.

It was on this train ride that Naruto found out something interesting about himself. Originally he had thought himself only able to create and control his mothers black flames, he was wrong. Naruto was more than capable at general pyrokenesis, he just found his mothers flames easier to manipulate and control as opposed to normal flames. Still he made some progress at both, when he talked to his mother he would need to ask her for a full list of what he could really do. At the moment he was just floundering around in the dark trying to learn off instinct, there had to be a better way than this.

He had learned some interesting information when he was half dozing and Percy and Annabeth were talking. Her father immediately made his shit list, along with Zeus and a few others. Naruto couldn't stand parents that didn't want their children. At least the Godly parent had an excuse, a decent excuse, that according to their laws the Godly parent could not raise the child. Annabeth's father apparently didn't want her because he was too busy with his work and didn't have time for a child. He also, from what Annabeth said, acted as if her appearance was the most inconvenient thing that had ever happened to him.

Then we she was five he married to a normal woman and forgot about Athena, Naruto did not begrudge the man for that. Everyone had a right to be happy and if the woman made him happy then so be it. What he did have a problem with was the fact that he apparently tried to forget about Annabeth after that and pretended that she didn't exist. Naruto planned on taking time out of his schedule one day and go visit the man. He already knew how the first few lines of their introduction would go, 'Mr Chase meet Shusui, Shusui meet Mr Chase, let the bodily harm commence.'

The next part of their conversation was Percy telling Annabeth about what Sally had done for him. How she had put up with Gabe and everything else, she flinched occasionally when Gabe raised his hand to her. Naruto put that down to domestic abuse and rearranged his priorities, he would be cutting the tendons in Gabe's arms and legs before dropping him somewhere he could bleed out, it was an oddly satisfying thought, Naruto blamed Shusui.

After that the conversation went back to Annabeth again, Naruto finally went to sleep, his resolve to do great amounts of bodily harm to his friends parent and step-parent respectively very much solidified. When he woke up again on June 13th with only eight days left until the summer solstice Naruto saw they were entering St. Louis. He saw Annabeth craning her head to look at the Golden Gate Arch. Naruto knew that she wanted to be an architect, hell it was fairly obvious with all the books on architecture that she read, the blond stood up and went to go splash some water on his face as Percy struck up conversation with her again.

When the train stopped they were told they would have a three hour stop over before they set out again. Grover groaned as he work "food" the satyr demanded.

Causing the other three to chuckle at his antics. "Come on goat boy we're going sightseeing" Annabeth told him while dragging the unlucky satyr out of his chair.

"Sightseeing?" Naruto asked, Annabeth nodded empathetically and smiled.

"Yes sightseeing, The Gateway Arch. This might be my only chance to ride it to the top." She told her fellow blond with a smile "are you coming or not?"

Naruto just chuckled as brought out his book, Kara no Kyoukai, again. "All right I'm in" Naruto told her, Annabeth looked at the book for a second.

"Uh Naruto, just how long is it going to take you to finish that book?" She asked him, Naruto just looked back at her with a deadpan expression.

"Annabeth" he told her "I've read this book through so many times. That should I wish it I could make an exact word for word copy." The other three sweat dropped at the blond's deceleration.

"It's really that good?" Annabeth asked him, Naruto nodded to the blond girl.

"Yes" Naruto answered her unashamedly. "Kara no Kyoukai, Tsukihime and Fate/Stay Night are three of the best books I have ever read, I always have a copy of one of them on me." The others just looked stunned.

"You really don't come off as the reading type Naruto" Grover told him, getting a nod from Percy.

Naruto shrugged "there is always more to people than what you see Grover." Naruto told the satyr before shooing Annabeth "come on we don't have forever" he told them.

Before they left Annabeth had to ask him one last question "who writes them."

Naruto didn't even bother to look up from his book "a writer by the name of Zelretch."

**XXX**

The Arch was about a mile away from the station. Thankfully being late in the day the lines to get inside weren't that long. The group of four threaded their way through the underground museum looking at a variety of junk from the 1800's. Annabeth telling them interesting facts, Grover handing Percy Jellybean's and Naruto engrossed in his book and giving out a 'do not fuck with me right now' vibe.

The cloying smell of honey came to Naruto's nose, what the hell was that smell anyway? "Grover you smell anything like honey?" Naruto asked the satyr.

"The underground" he said distastefully. "The underground always smells like monsters it's probably nothing, no idea why you're smelling honey though."

Percy seemed to realise something and looked at Grover. "Guys you know the Gods symbol's of power?" He asked, the other three stopped what they were doing to look at him.

"Yeah" Annabeth told him.

"Well Hade-" Naruto slapped his hand over Percy's mouth.

"Public place!" The blond hissed, he had no desire to start a fight here. Way too much collateral damage potential.

"Right" Percy said nodding to his blond friend. "Our friend down stair then" he looked to see if there were objections to his name. None were forth coming and so Percy continued. "Doesn't he have a hat like Annabeth's?" He asked uncertainty. Naruto immediately got what his friend was getting at and suddenly felt like someone was watching him.

Annabeth nodded. "Yes he does The Helm of Darkness." She told them in a lecturing tone "I saw it when we went to Olympus when the winter solstice came."

"Wait he was there!?" Percy exclaimed, causing Annabeth to nod grimly.

"Yes he was, the darkest day of the year is the only day that Hades is welcome on Olympus." Annabeth told the two demigods seriously. "But his helm is far more powerful than my hat, if what we've been told is true." Annabeth stated to which Grover nodded.

"It is true" Grover confirmed fearfully. "With it he can melt into shadows, or pass through walls. He can't be touched, seen, or even heard. He radiates a fear so intense that it can stop your heart or drive you insane."The satyr reported in a solemn tone.

Percy gulped "then how do we know he's not here watching us now?" Percy asked, Grover and Annabeth shared a look.

"We don't" they answered in tandem.

"Alright well that's creepy that is very creepy." Naruto replied, the elevator car came down and the four piled in with a fat lady and her Chihuahua. Naruto just read his book the smell of honey cloying his nose, the elevator went in a curve, something Percy's stomach didn't look to happy about.

The fat lady looked at them "no parents?" She asked, Naruto looked at her for a second. She was dressed all in denim, pointy coffee stained teeth.

Annabeth shook her head "no they're below they have a fear of heights." She told the lady, the smell of honey still cloyed Naruto's nose.

"Oh the poor darlings" The lady lamented, the Chihuahua growled, it's eyes vicious and intelligent as it's owner's. The smell of cloying honey increased. Naruto couldn't help but sigh internally one of these days he was going to figure out what the hell made that smell.

The lady looked down at the Chihuahua, "now, now, sonny calm down." She scolded it, the Chihuahua settled but still looked as if it wanted to take a bite of Percy.

Percy looked at the Chihuahua for a second before looking back to the lady. "Is sonny your dog's name?" He asked, the lady shook her head.

"No" was all she replied as if that solved everything.

The observation room of the Arch reminded Naruto of a tin can with carpeting. Rows upon rows of windows looked out over the city, lights sparkling in the distance. It was fairly spacious but it was also confined and high in the air, Naruto wondered if they should really be here. They had monsters and the police after them after all, should they really be at such a popular place?

Annabeth was in heaven talking about how she would have done the supports to make the windows bigger and design a see through floor. Naruto just stayed buried in his book. As long as they were content he was happy to spend as much time as they wanted to up here. Not too long later however it was declared closing time, Percy packed Annabeth and Grover into an elevator. Realising a few seconds later that there was already people inside leaving no room for either Naruto or him.

Annabeth and Grover offered to stay with the two and wait for another elevator the blond and black haired children declined and told their friends that they would see them at the bottom. The only people left on the top floor were Naruto, Percy, the park ranger, a family and their child and finally the fat woman with a Chihuahua. Naruto sighed as he saw her forked tongue slip out of her mouth for a second, they could never catch a break could they.

The lady smiled at them, Naruto chose to take the initiative and summoned his gate. In less than a second the blond had ripped a belt of throwing knives from the hole in reality and sent the hurtling towards the woman. The Chihuahua that was now the size of a lion smack them out of the air, the parents and child screamed and ran right into the park ranger who was standing paralysed with fear at the monster.

The Chihuahua was now as tall as the ceiling, it's head was that of a lion with a blood caked mane, hooves of a gigantic goat for its feet. A serpent for a tail, a ten foot long diamond back to be precise. Naruto sighed as Shusui came to his left hand, still sheathed, Percy's own sword gripped in the boy's right. The Chimera roared at the two demigods. Naruto looked at the beast a little closer and saw a collar around its neck. CHIMERA- RABID, FIRE-BREATHING, POISONOUS- IF FOUND, PLEASE CALL TARTARUS-EXT 954.

Naruto sighed before summing up the situation in the most eloquent way he had available. "Well fuck."

**Illuminating Heaven: The Lightning Thief- Chapter 7 End**


End file.
